How To Catch A Crime Syndicate
by g-hostwrites
Summary: Hinata Hyūga, an FBI profiler, upon finding out about the murder of a friend, leaves for Japan with her partner Itachi Uchiha in order to get justice for the notorious serial killer responsible for their collegue's death.
1. Chapter 1: How To Start a Fire

**Chapter 1: How to Start a Fire**

Genre: Crime, Romance, Dramedy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and it's characters. Masashi Kishimoto does, so you can blame him for this disaster

Warnings: Hinata is OOC, mainly because she has matured. Also there will be major character death and a good ol sprinkle of gore (hopefully, because I don't know how good I am at writing it)

Pairings: Issa surprise ;)

 **DC Washington, United States of America**

10 pm. Almost time to go home. Her workday was almost done. They had finally caught the serial killer they've chasing for half a year. Not an easy catch, that was for sure, but she'd sleep more soundly knowing that there'd be no people terrorised by the vile excuse of a human being.

Agent Hinata Hyūga loved her job, in a sense. Being part of the Behaviour Analysis at the FBI had it's perks. Nevertheless, she loved to go home after a long day, in this case month. Hinata and her partner had been sent away from home for to catch the previously mentioned killer all the way to Miami. And now that, that has been delt with, they could finally go home. The fact that they caught the guy didn't mean they were excused from writing the report of the mission. So here they were, writing it up, all in much detail. Well she was anyway. Where was her partner anyway?

"Agent Hyūga."

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

She turned around in her spinning chair at the sound of the familiarly low tone of voice of her partner. His long jet-black hair tied in a low ponytail swinging from side to side as did the bangs framing his face while he strider over to her. "Director Hatake wants to see us." Itachi Uchiha stated, all the while his warm onyx eyes observing her tired form. "I could tell him, that we'll talk to him tomorrow," He suggested the wrinkles under his eyes exaggerating his slightly worried expression.

Hinata smiled up at the tall man grateful for his concern and shook her head muttering a low "It's fine," It was to be expected of anyway, he would usually summon them after a case was closed. So she stood up and walked alongside the older agent to their director's office. When they reached it she was the one to knock, but her partner opened the door for her after a muffled "Come in." Came from the other side.

Inside was standing , rather than sitting, at his desk, Hatake Kakashi, gray hair and all, mask ever present like an extended turtle neck, under his suit, that reached up all the way up to the bridge of his nose. The only part of his face that was visible were his black eyes that looked unusually troubled, and his brow which was furrowed. The look on his face and the timing of it made Hinata question the success of their mission.

"You summoned us, Director Hatake?" The black haired man voiced, for courtesy more than anything,

"Ah yes, Agents Uchiha and Hyūga. Please, sit" The gray haired man said, gesturing vaguely at the two armchairs in front of his desk, the two did as they were told. He sighed."What you're about to find out , may come as a shock to you, but as you know, I'm not a man of a uncareless word choosing. That is why it faster we get this over with the better."

The young woman chuckled lightly her long dark blue hair dancing around her face. "Director Hatake, I never knew you could be so... poetic." She said, sarcastic amusement lingering in her tone.

The man sighed once again. The dark haired woman observed him, he appeared to be in deep thought before seemingly making up his mind about something. He proceeded to reach a file that had Japanese writings on it, that made Hinata even more curious. All she could make out was "Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department". Out of the file he pulled out a photo and placed it on the table in front of the them.

The two agents' reactions were not different from one another. Both of them drew in a sharp breath as Hinata gripped the armrest with her nails.

On the photo was a woman– a body of a woman, rather– laid on a morgue like table, clad only in underwear. She had long chocolate brown hair, her eyes were closed but the deep red orbs hidden behind pale eyelids were far from unfamiliar to the present company. What made the three agents distressed however, and air in the office thick with tense silence, was the circle of seam on the woman's chest, over her heart, where they knew there wouldn't be one. Instead, there was that so familiar kanji that read _Bishop_.

 **One hour ago. Tokyo, Japan.**

It had been a cold, rainy September night. Not at all unusual for Tokyo, or Japan for that matter. The heavy rain however, didn't stop the street from being busy. There were jobs to be done. Crimes to be committed.

Nighttime was universally known as the time when all crime broke loose. The dealing and usage of drugs, robbery, shoplifting, carjacking, battery, suicide, murder and manslaughter, even human trafficking if you look hard enough. Japan was not spared of these. And of course during daytime it was in the hands of the Tokyo's police departments to take care of the aftermath.

That was precisely why, Sergeant Uchiha Sasuke, was taking a different route to the one he usually took to get to his workplace, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. There had been a dispatch to a crime scene, before he could even take off to his job. Apparently there was a body of a woman found, a possible homicide. Which made sense, since after all he was the sergeant in charge of the Homicide department, he wouldn't have received the dispatch message otherwise.

He took a quick glance at the GPS and took a right turn before parking his car shortly after. And sure enough as he got out of the car he spotted the familiar black and yellow tape of the crime scene.

"Sergeant Uchiha, sir." Greeted Akimichi Chōji, the officer was standing at the yellow tape making sure no unwanted faces stepped behind it.

The young man greeted back with a nod of his head. As he made his way over to where he knew the woman's corpse was lying he saw the medical examiner pore over the body. "Haruno, what do we have?"

The pinkette's shoulders stiffened and she gave the man a glance over her shoulder unable to suppress a small blush before she he cleared her throat "Woman in her late thirties. Died, about six hours ago. Cause of death:" The young woman looked up as if debating something. "Gravity. The rain must have washed away all the blood. She doesn't have any ID on her, so she's a Jane for now."

The raven haired man nodded as he looked over the body. He squinted as he looked up, and saw that the small alley was surrounded by two tall, shabby looking buildings. There's was also a roof between them preventing the crime scene from being ruined by the rain. "Did you guys move the body?"

At his question his team shook their heads no. Nodding his head he turned back to look at the pinkette

He heard a scoff which made him look over to his right. "Well besides what your lover girl will tell you" The blonde woman started making the pinkette's hand twitch in annoyance as if she was trying not to throw something, like a scalpel, at the latter. "There's no way it's suicide. Honestly, have you even seen her clothes."

The Uchiha let his eyes fall onto the woman once again. She was wearing a dark blouse with some sort of print on it, a black pencil skirt and matching heeled shoes. "Your point, exactly, Detective Yamanaka?"

He could almost hear her rolling her eyes at his "ignorance". "Well, first of all that's a Versace scarf print blouse, which i costs at least sixty five _thousand_ yen. And-"

"What Detective Yamanaka here is trying to say," Interrupted a male voice, Sasuke was always thankful when Detective Nara Shikamaru, made his life easier when it came to interpreting what the blonde detective was trying to say. "Is that, our victim wasn't likely to be found around this neighborhood, because of her, how do you say it, financial status."

The blonde huffed, displeased with her partner for cutting her off. "Or, you know, someone put them on her after they killed her. So yeah, I'm betting homicide." The blonde detective commented nonchalantly.

The young sergeant rolled his eyes at the woman. He gave the body another glance "Nara and Yamanaka, go look for witnesses anyone who might have seen something from their windows. Aburame and Haruno, take the body to the police station, and look for evidence. I-"

"Wait." The pink haired medical examiner interrupted him. "I think I found something."

At that the young sergeant turned to look at the young woman, she was unbuttoning the dead woman's blouse, enough to reveal a modest part of her chest. Time seemed to stop for a minute as they stared at the completing evidence that this was, in fact a homicide.

 **DC Washington, United States of America**

After what felt like hours of silence the indigo haired agent couldn't hold it in anymore. "Is this some kind of sick joke of yours,Kakashi?" She spit out venemously before realising what she had just said. "Director, sir" She added a bit quieter.

The older male sighed. "I wish it was, Agent Hyūga, I only wish." The FBI Director said gravely. Looking around his own office before settling his gaze on the male agent. Itachi Uchiha, who was still looking at the photo with an unreadable look in his face, had been eerily quiet. Not necessarily unusual, then again Kakashi didn't know what kind of reaction the news he bore would gather out of the man. Just as he was about to break the extended silence, his subordinate beat him to it.

"What measures are being taken for the investigation?" The black haired man asked looking up at his boss, the fringe framing his face swaying at the sudden movement.

"That is why you're here. Don't think I called you into my office just to look at you suffer." He paused and raised an eyebrow at Hinata when she mumbled an almost indistinct 'i wouldn't be surprised', but chose not to comment on it, instead he sighed and continued. "The Commissioner-General at the National Police Agency of Japan has requested that I send you two to investigate the case of the Bishop Killer's new victim."

Kakashi saw the bluette stir in her seat. "When was her body found, exactly, Director Hatake?"

"An hour ago in Tokyo."

Itachi rolled his eyes. "News sure travel fast."

Yet again, the gray haired man let out a sigh. "The lieutenant of the homicide investigation unit at Tokyo Metro PD is an old friend from the military, he contacted me as soon as he saw the body.

"They don't know her identity, and I'm in no position to share that information until I get the go ahead from above, which shouldn't be long from now. At least I'm sure by the time you get to Tokyo you'll be allowed to share her identity, more or less."

The dark haired woman shifted uncomfortably in her seat, her gray-ish lavender eyes looking concerned. "Does.. Does her husband know?" She asked, eyes yet again glued on the photo.

Kakashi chose to advert his gaze from the two agents, instead he started at the wall, as if it held more interest than the conversation they were having. When he spoke, however his voice held grief "I'm afraid not, Agent Hyūga. Like I said, the body hasn't been identified."

Hinata massaged her temples, the sharp pain in her head hinting to an oncoming migraine. There was another question on the tip of her tongue, but it was as if the words were pieces of a puzzle she couldn't put together.

"When is our flight?" Of course. Count on Itachi to read her mind when she wasn't capable of doing it herself.

The director nodded his head once, as though glad they had gotten over the emotional part of the meeting. "I was hoping you would tell me that."

"In three hours." Itachi said, obviously wanting to get there as soon as possible.

The dark haired woman turned to look at her partner, who was already staring back at her. She started looking for answers to questions she hadn't even uttered yet. They were weird like that, reading each other's mind. "Three hours?" She asked him, he blinked. Oh, right, they haven't even unpacked yet from their previous case, three hours was probably more than enough.

"Right, then, creepy as always with your bloody telepathy." They chuckled unhumorously at his attempt to lighten the mood. He looked down at his watch "Be ready by midnight, I'll have a helicopter bring you to your plane." At that, the both of them nodded."Good luck, then."

A/N: Hello, this is my first fic despite the fact that there already is one on my page, I wrote this like a month before the "Bus Ride" I hope you liked this enough to want more, because I already have four chapters ready, but imma try and update only like once a week since I have to write ahead and edit them out a bit(this story is gonna be long). If you did like it please review, and give constructive criticism about my writing style, what do you feel is lacking and so on. That is if you've gathered enough by reading this to form an opinion however small. And also I've got a couple of questions.

you want honorifcs in this story? (exclusively to events in Japan though)

much romance would you like this story to have, I'm a big fan of romance and I love writing it, but I'm not sure how well it will go with the story.


	2. Chapter 2: How To Feel Young Again

**Chapter 2: How To Feel Young Again**

 **Tokyo**

Another rainy night in the capital of Japan. Hinata was looking down onto the city she was born in, fuller than ever with nostalgia. "Being back here makes me feel like a little girl all over again."

A low chuckle came from behind her. "Kind of ironic, considering it's supposed to be the City of the Future." Itachi said, coming to stand beside her on the balcony. "But, I understand what you mean, makes me feel like a little kid too."

Hinata sighed letting out a short laugh. "When my family finds out I'm back in Japan, there's no escaping a family reunion."

They stood like that for a while, looking down onto the city that was their home. The young woman's peacefulness was slowly replaced with anger, remembering why they were here in the first place.

"I hate him." She finally snapped, without needing to elaborate, she knew her partner understood exactly who she was talking about. "How dare he, come into my city and kill my friend!?" In her anger she reached for the metal bar of the balcony and grasped it in a white knuckled grip. She felt as though the city was tainted for her now. Before, when she thought of her homeland it brought peace into her heart. Now all she could see was the lifeless corpse of Agent Kurenai, her mentor and friend – now dead. She felt like crying when out of nowhere a warm hand found its way on her shoulder.

She turned to find Itachi looking at her, his brow furrowed and mouth turned into a scowl, the clear grief apparent on his face. He looked right about how she felt, that's for sure. And it was understandable. They had both lost someone today. After all, Kurenai had been his partner too after all.

In an effort to comfort and be comforted she wrapped her pale arms around the man before her and he didn't waste time locking his arms around her. "Hinata," He breathed after a minute of silence, making her look up at him. "He might come after you too, you know."

Hinata buried her face deeper into his chest at that. "I know that." she murmured.

The raven haired man put his arms on her shoulders and pulled away slightly to look her in the eye. "Promise me you'll carry your gun with you." At her nod he pulled her back into his embrace giving himself a silent promise.

'I won't let anything happen to you.'

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke sat at his desk, bored out of his mind. He was writing up a report on the victim they had found yesterday morning, occasionally quoting the medical examiner's and the forensics report on the case that he'd hand his lieutenant together with his.

He stopped writing last night's events, or lack of thereof, filling up his distracted mind. His lieutenant, Tenzō Yamato, had informed him that two FBI agents would be joining him and his team on the investigation of their Jane Doe's death, or murder rather. It appeared as though the way she was killed matched the MO of a known serial killer in the United States.

The lieutenant said he wasn't given the names of the FBI agents, but Sasuke had a hunch that he knew at least one of them. 'He is Japanese after all, and a cop here at one point, nonetheless' He thought to himself hopefully. Sasuke hadn't seen him in almost a decade. He had been still in high-school when his older brother was recruited by the Bureau, and he hadn't seen him since. The work he did was secretive and classified and it kept him busy all the time, but he still managed to call from time to time. 'I wonder if those lousy feds would even tell me if something happened to him.'

He was snapped out of his thoughts with Ino's low shriek. "Everyone! The suits are here!" She whispered loudly making Sasuke wonder how she managed to do that. The quick glance the blonde detective gave him let him know that he was in fact, right, about his hunch.

With sudden anticipation he turned his gaze to the entrance of their department. First came the black suit then the slim waist and long neck. Then came swinging the long dark blue hair that framed the pale features of a... 'A woman?'. There stood a young woman, clearly japanese, her grayish lavender eyes sharp and confident, just like the way she carried herself.

Sasuke didn't let his confusion take over for too long because soon by the young woman's side came in view his brother. There stood Itachi Uchiha, tall, brooding, in all of his broad-shouldered glory. His hair longer, the wrinkles under his eyes deeper, his complexion tanner than Sasuke remembered. But he still had the same eyes, dark yet warm.

As soon as their eyes met he felt like a little boy under that gaze. He felt like running into his brother's arms like he did so many times before as a kid.

Itachi smiled. A mild upturn of the man's mouth in anybody else's eyes, but to Sasuke, it felt like family. Home. Itachi's eyes traveled down to Sasuke's chest where his gold, sergeant badge was hanging. He could see the pride in his brother's eyes. 'He's proud of me.' The mere thought surprised him. Sasuke never sought out anyone's approval, or at least he thought he didn't until he got Itachi's.

He was once again pulled out of his thoughts, this time by the object of said thoughts. "Sergeant Uchiha." the older brother acknowledged extending his right hand. Sasuke stared at it as if he didn't know if it was real or not before deciding to grasp it. The young sergeant released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding when his hand didn't actually meet air, but solid, warm flesh.

After a long moment of silence the young woman beside his brother cleared her throat. "Do you guys need a room or something?" She joked looking from one Uchiha to the other, before focusing on Itachi. "I could go talk with the lieutenant alone, if you want to reconcile with your little brother." She suggested making the younger Uchiha glare at her for the condensing tone she used when referring to him.

"Ah, right." He sighed and they let go of each other's hands. "Sasuke, forgive me. We need to talk with your lieutenant first, chain of command, y'know." The Uchiha agent spoke, sounding almost sheepish.

Sasuke blinked. "Yeah, it's fine." He said, pointing ahead to the room where the Homicide Lieutenant was. "That's his office."

"Thanks." Said the bluette curtly, and stormed off, dragging his brother by the the arm into the office.

* * *

When they had gotten inside Hinata was hit with the musky scent of wood and for good reason too since everything on the lieutenant's office appeared to be made out of wood, Hinata made a wild guess that it was oak. It didn't look much different than Kakashi's office, minimalistic yet traditionally Japanese in a way. She had been so distracted by the interior, that she hadn't noticed the Lieutenant extend his hand to her. Returning the handshake made her even more distracted. His hands were callused, very much so too. 'Aren't lieutenants usually just paper pushers?' This man didn't seem any different. 'So why...?'

"You're a woodworker. " It wasn't a question, it did sound like one in her head. She was about to apologize for her bluntness, when she noticed the lieutenant didn't seem put off, nor did he look offended. If anything he looked flattered even impressed.

"Nice deductive skills there, agent..."He paused and she remembered that she hadn't even introduced herself yet.

"Hyūga. Hinata Hyūga." The bluette offered.

"Yamato Tenzō, it's a pleasure." He said, releasing her hand. "I work with a whole department of detectives and officers, and they seldom notice my hobby." He chuckled and went to sit at his desk, not before offering the two to sit down in the armchairs in front of it. Hinata was experiencing a slight dejavu.

"In my defense," She began, sitting down. "It's not like you were hiding it, and I'm a profiler, it's my job to 'deduce' these sorts of things, lieutenant."

He breathed out a laugh again. "Well I hope there's more where that came from, because we don't exactly have a room where we know our killer spends most of his time in."

"Trust me." Itachi interjected. "There is.."

The lieutenant shook his head in slight amusement. "Now then." He pulled out a case for from his desk. "I think we have more urgent matters to discuss."

"Everyone." Boomed the voice of Yamato Tenzō through the whole department, catching everybody's attention. "Briefing room. Now."

At the lieutenant's order all officers and detectives and other staff left what they were doing and gathered in the said room.

Hinata and Itachi following suite accompanied by the department's lieutenant. When they entered, Hinata counted about over dozen people, surprisingly a lot of familiar faces.

As the two agents made their way in front of the small group Hinata was the one to speak, as she found out earlier from Yamato that Kakashi put her in charge of the investigation.

"Morning." She mumbled, immediately regretting not making Itachi do this in her stead. "I am Special Agent Hinata Hyuga. You can call me Agent Hyuga." She extended her arm in Itachi's direction. "And this is my partner, Senior Agent Uchiha Itachi." He in turn gave a small bow of his head. "We are part of the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. I assume most of you know why we are here?"

A young Chinese looking woman with brown hair pulled into two twin buns raised her hand, Hinata nodded at her to speak. "Detective Tenten Liu. I just wanted you to know that we've actually been kept in the dark. So we don't really know why you're here." The detective said nonchalantly.

Hinata almost wanted to groan out load. She knew that, Kakashi told her. "Right." She mumbled. "We're here because of the open homicide you have on..." She trailed off searching for the photo in the file she was holding. When she finally found what she was looking for she held up a photo of a very much alive and formal looking woman they had found lying dead yesterday. "Kurenai Sarutobi."

There was a silence in the room before another woman, this time a blonde one, spoke. "She somehow related to Asuma Sarutobi? The guy who's running for mayor? " The blonde inquired and thankfully she was close enough for Hinata to read the badge around her neck which revealed her as Detective Ino Yamanaka. Yet another, this time even more so, familiar face and name.

Hinata smiled at her and the detective smiled back with recognition. "Yes, Detective Yamanaka. She was his wife."

A few gasps resounded in the room. "That's not why we're here." She clarified, sticking the photo on the board behind her. "Five years ago I was the MPDC detective in charge on a case of a serial killer known by the media as The Bishop Killer." She proceeded to stick photos on the board of corpses that had the same Kanji in a circle of stitches on different parts of their torso.

"These are some of his victims. Wherever the mark was found on their body they'd be missing an organ. In Mrs Sarutobi's case – her heart, one of the more frequent organs he steals."

A hand rose in the crowd before a young pink haired woman, wearing a white lab coat stood up. "Dr. Haruno Sakura, Medical Examiner." The green eyed woman introduced herself. "Why exactly was Mrs. Sarutobi a target? I've learned of this case a while ago, all of the Bishop's victims were around the age of twenty, no? It doesn't seem as though she fit the killer's MO." She inquired, sound a bit too smart for Hinata's taste.

The bluette sighed. "You're right Dr. Haruno this murder is different from others the Bishop Killer has committed. Unlike other murders, where the victims had almost nothing in common, save for the age range, and the extraordinary good health, this one was a crime of passion." She told them tiredly, she didn't like to talk this much, and she certainly wasn't a people person; the fact that it was her friend she was talking about didn't help her case the slightest bit either.

"Kurenai, is-" Hinata bit her tongue at the mistake,"was a colleague of ours and Agent Uchiha's ex-partner. She was a federal agent on official business here, that's why she didn't appear in the media along with her husband." Hinata looked down at the next paper in the file, it was the cover page of an old looking newspaper. The photo on the page was of her and the brunette woman taking an interview from the journalist in front of the MPDC.

Clearing her throat she took the piece of paper and pinned it on the board. "Five years ago I was a detective in charge of this case before I was joined by the FBI, that is, Agents Sarutobi and Uchiha. I am certain that Agent Sarutobi was murdered because she investigated the case all those years back."

Another hand rose, rather lazily, into the air, it belonged young man with a spiky ponytail. Hinata tried to remember his name 'Shika-... Shika…?' "Detective Nara Shikamaru." That's what it was. "Why would the killer go after her if you didn't even catch him?" He drawled, making it seem as though this whole thing was a waste of time in his eyes.

Finally came the time to explain their failures, hers in particular. "We were close, very close but he had set a trap for us. We had concluded, amongst other things, that the Bishop Killer was a doctor of some sort, most likely a surgeon. We had finally narrowed it down to a person who fit the profile in what we are certain was the same hospital the killer worked at, because after we had our suspect under custody another doctor basically disappeared without a trace. All the data on him - gone. As if he'd been a ghost. No photos, nothing. We had no way of finding his whereabouts."

By the time Hinata finished, she had been left with a bitter taste in her mouth. All these years she had been kept busy enough that she didn't think about the Bishop if she could help it. And now that she had been reminded of all those events she didn't quite feel so good.. It had been her only open case as a detective for the MCDC.

She knew that another year working as a detective after the fact and four more as an agent, would definitely increase her chances in catching him this time. That, however, didn't stop her from feeling uneasy.

Itachi had probably picked up on her absent mindedness, because he had stood up from where he was sitting and positioned himself beside her.

"That's about it. If anyone would like to brief us on your side of the case, please." The raven haired man suggested, pointing to the front of the room, where they were standing. He smiled down at Hinata when she gave him a silent thank you with her eyes before the two went to sit down.

Sasuke glared at the blue haired's woman hindhead from the back of the room, perplexed by the interaction between her and his brother."Yamanaka, go ahead." Ordered the Uchiha sergeant, to which the blonde detective trotted over to face the room, the sound of her heels echoing in otherwise silent the room.

She gave the file in her hands a quick look before addressing the present company in a sharp yet very feminine voice. "The victim, now identified as Sarutobi Kurenai, was found by a witness, resident of one of the buildings the deceased was found between." She reported, sounding nothing short of professional.

Hinata watched the confident woman before her share information the team got from the crime scene investigation. She couldn't help to notice how the blonde hadn't changed much since they were in junior high. She still looked stunning and still looked like she was very aware of the fact, if her clothes were anything to go by. The blonde tight leather pants and turtleneck sweater – that was short enough to reveal a rather unmodest but very Ino-like part of her slightly toned abdomen. It had been a surprise to the Hyuga to find her old friend as a police detective, in Homicide nonetheless.

She had always thought the Yamanaka would become a model, or something in that area, what with her good looks. Never once had she imagined Ino, or a big of her former classmates to make up almost a whole Homicide department. Well, except Naruto, he was always going on about wanting to be a cop, but he was nowhere to be seen now.

Hinata was dragged out of her thoughts when she heard the female detective mention something peculiar.

"Wait, what did you say you found on the body?"

Ino raised a brow but answered nevertheless. "Particles of leaves and soil on the victim's shoes."

The indigo haired agent turned to face her partner, he mirrored her exact same perplexed expression. "That's impossible." Itachi and Hinata said at the same time, sounding confounded.

The blonde woman just started at the bizarre exchange between the two FBI agents. "Quite possible, actually. Killers do leave evidence from time to time you know." She started with a raised eyebrow. "And Shino–" the blonde pointed at a man in a white lab coat and a hoodie over his head. Despite the black sunglasses he wore Hinata still recognized him as her former classmate. "–our lead forensics expert thinks he can, with enough tests, narrow the soil to a general area, not too specific but-"

Hinata gave her an annoyed look, a first in their lifetime. "That is not what I meant, detective." She closed her eyes and sighed in an effort to calm herself down. "The Bishop Killer had over two dozen victims, not a single piece of evidence, nothing that would suggest so much as his height." A pause as her breath seethed quietly. "And now you're telling me we have something that might give us a possible location?"

Ino squinted, taken aback by her former friend's outburst. "You don't sound as ecstatic as I hoped you would be."

Hinata was about to retort, but was glad when Itachi answered in her stead. "We'll need to see the body." He voiced her thoughts, always reading in between her aggravated speeches.

His younger brother gave them a questioning look before seemingly giving in. "Haruno, take them to your office."

The pink haired ME jumped slightly at the order. "Of course, sergeant." She stood up and walked over to the door. "Follow me, Agents."

And follow her they did. Hinata barely noticed as they entered the elevator. She had more pressing matters to ponder on. Like the Bishop Killer, for one. Why would there be evidence on the body? The Bishop, was careful, meticulous, a perfectionist, Hinata was sure he even had OCD. It was very unlike him to leave evidence, even something as seemingly insignificant as dirt on a shoe.

Maybe he had gotten rusty. After all, he had, allegedly, not killed anyone within the span of five years, not with this MO anyway.

Stepping down the last bit of stairs that separated them from the pinkette's office, Hinata watched said woman walk in front of them. She hurried over to the corner of the floor with metal walls that had retractable, human-sized, shelves in them. The medical examiner however led them not to one of the shelves but to one body on an examination table, covered with an off-white sheet.

A/N: ayyooo, my first update/2nd chapter to ever see the light of the world or another person's computer screen

first of all I'd like to thank you for the reviews it really warms my heart to read them and motivates me a lot even through my small writer's block.(I'm like stuck on ch4 even though I'm writing ahead of it -sweats profusely as the date to post it nears-)

second of all. now that you actually got to see a bit more of Hinata's character i think you can see exactly how OOC she is in my story, i hope you don't mind. I will reveal more as to why she is like this in as the story goes on (i didnt just make her like this bc it'd be cooler, she has a background alright?)

also about the honorifics i was going to add them but when i did, it just kinda felt wrong since they already use titles like sergeant, lieutenant, doctor and agent, and to add honorifics on top would be too much. plus Sasuke is one of the MCs and he doesn't even use them (in canon and consequently here too)

to those who await the romance to come; it will soon, in a chapter of its own because that's how i felt it best to introduce the romance and pairings into this somewhat dark story.

I'D REALLY APPRECIATE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM- I see this a lot on other works where ppl just say things like they loved or hated the work. I'd really like to know why if you're gonna do that  
Thank you for reading but please review and tell me if you didn't like something or felt that something wasn't there for good reason this is my first story and i need guidance! see you next week!

P.S. Sorry for the long Author's note,


	3. Chapter 3: How To Think Like A Killer

**Chapter 3: How To Think Like A Killer**

* * *

Stepping down the last bit of stairs that separated them from the medical examiner's office, Hinata watched said woman walk in front of them. She hurried over to the corner of the floor with metal walls that had retractable, human-sized, shelves in them. The pinkette however, led them not in the direction of the shelves but to one body on an examination table, covered with an off-white sheet. With already gloved hands the woman removed the cloth slowly to reveal the body of a brown-haired woman.

It took all of Hinata's willpower, and a little more than that, accompanied by her partner's hand on her shoulder, to withhold all of the emotions she was feeling. Her mentor, her best friend, lying before her, pale from the lack of life surging through her veins. Dead.

" _Welcome to the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI, Agent Hyuga."_

 _Hinata looked up timidly through her bangs at the brunette. That was the first time someone had called her that. She couldn't help but smile. It had a nice ring to it._

 _Suddenly her teacher circled her arms around her in a tight hug. "You can't imagine how proud I am of you." Agent Yūhi whispered into her ear._

Tears welled up in Hinata's eyes but she blinked them away. Kurenai had been more than a friend, or a mentor. She was like a mother to her. Her kind words and her caring embrace reminded her of a mother she didn't even remember having.

"You can go now, Dr. Haruno."

At the male agent's polite yet commanding tone the medical examiner left them with the corpse of the brunette woman.

Hinata placed her own hand over Itachi's on her shoulder, silently thanking him. He squeezed it back lightly as a silent 'No problem' before slowly retracting it and stepping away from her.

The young woman then inhaled deeply. Trying to void herself of all emotion. No matter how close she was to the lifeless woman in front of her, she would not let her emotions get the better of her. No matter how personal this was, she had to find the killer.

She released her breath and opened her eyes. Looking down at the woman in front of her. Cause of death: open heart surgery resulting in the removal of the victim's heart. Her eyes traveled over to the subject's neck. Carefully she moved the head in the opposite direction to reveal part of the woman's nape. True to the agent's suspicion there was an incision mark there, from a needle, where she knew the culprit injected sedative that rendered his prey useless.

That's what they were to him after all, just prey. He chose them very cautiously, no one would ever tie their death to him, he was confident of the fact. After choosing his prey, he'd hunt them down, one sedative filled needle to the neck and down they went.

But, this one was different. He hadn't chosen her, she was too old, he simply didn't _need_ her. Still, even though he hadn't hunted her down, she had. And he couldn't let that happen. He wouldn't become prey. Even if she wasn't chosen, wasn't _worthy_ he'd still let her get the taste of his blade.

 _Red_.

Blood trickling down the woman's chest. That's alright, he'd wipe it off eventually, there was no need to leave it a mess. The prey had passed out, probably from the pain of his scalp cutting through her skin, they all lost consciousness eventually… Unfortunately too. He'd like them for once to see what they were like on the inside. All the same.

He had removed her heart, and he would mark her now. Leave his signature. An autograph this time around, since she came looking for him. Seven strokes of his brush - read: scalpel - and that would be it. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Se-

Hinata blinked once. Twice. And one more time, just to be sure. She then leaned forward to stare at the seventh stroke of the _Bishop_ kanji on the woman's chest.

"There was someone else." She felt rather than saw Itachi give her a confused look from where he was standing close behind her after she said those words. The bluette then grabbed the agent by the sleeve and pointed and the horizontal line in the middle of the japanese character. "Look."

The raven haired man eyed the wound before it clicked."It's interrupted." the stroke had been broken off before it had been finished. It was barely noticeable, but nothing would miss the agents' trained eyes, especially after they had seen so many victims to the culprit of this one " _He_ was interrupted."

"Mhm." Hinata hummed in agreement. "I think it's safe to assume it's an accomplice."

"Otherwise he wouldn't be been able to finish what he started." He unconsciously finished her statement.

"This is bad." Hinata murmured. Before she could think about all the ways this would complicate their whole case she saw Itachi shake his head, from the corner of her eye. She turned to face him fully and questioningly narrowed her white eyes at him. "What?"

The taller male raised a brow at her, as though surprised she hadn't caught on yet. She must have been really sidetracked if their minds weren't in sync as they usually were. "We could actually use this to our advantage." He mused quietly.

The bluette rubbed her forehead. She must be _really_ out of it, because she was _really_ not following. "Itachi, what are you on abo- Ohhh" Okay now they were on the same page. "But are you sure though?"

"Fairly certain, yeah" He confirmed with as much confidence as the statement held. "Just think about it. He never messed up. Not once. All the crime scenes? Spotless. Until now, five years later, he had gotten himself an accomplice and he messed up big time, not once, but twice. It's only a matter of time before he makes another mistake."

Hinata felt excited at the idea of finally catching the murderer. However, she could not ignore her earlier _vision_ , as some would call it, personally she thought of it as a very specific instinct, to be able think like killer. Not many people could do that, apparently, especially those who hadn't killed before, to Hinata it came naturally. Give a sufficient amount of evidence and she'd give you a profile. And she was right most of the time, and when she wasn't, the truth was so close to her profile that people just said that she was right _all_ the time. But enough about her.

"He won't."

Itachi started at her. "Something tells me he will mess up again, Hinata." He tried to convince her to which she simply shook her head.

"Oh, I know he _would_ mess up again, if he ever had plans on killing again, which he doesn't." She stated gazing blankly at the body in front of her, either waiting for more answers or for the woman to stand up, alive and well; she wasn't sure.

Her partner sighed in disappointment. "What else did you see?"

Her lips formed a thin line, and her brows furrowed in a mixture as she judiciously stared at the body. "He didn't need to kill her." The bluette finally voiced, anxiously biting on the nail of her thumb. "Didn't exactly want to either. She found him, don't ask me how, I have no idea, but somehow she did. He wouldn't have killed her otherwise."

The Uchiha frowned at the woman, he was already accustomed to her knowing, or rather finding out these sorts things others would never see. He was accustomed to it because she was Hinata and her eyes saw what others' didn't. But that didn't mean he didn't have questions. "What is he doing now if he isn't killing, then? What had he been doing for the past five years?" She simply gave him the same look as he had given her merely minutes ago. 'You already know that.' It said. Then it hit him. "The apprentice."

Hinata nodded, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her black jeans. "Uh-huh." She muttered, turning around to fully face him, finally deciding that her mentor's corpse couldn't share any more information with her, nor would it wake up and start talking to her. "He'd found himself a protégé, and stopped killing, under the name of the Bishop anyway. I'm sure they had killed before, but those would have a whole different MO."

An aggravated sigh escaped Itachi's lips. "So we come here to catch the Bishop and instead we get two killers whose agenda we have no idea about." He stated blankly, gazing at the ceiling. Then his dark eyes met her pale ones. "I'm glad though." He added in a much calmer tone.

Hinata tilted her head, as if that'd help her understand him, though at times she just didn't. "Why's that?"

He gave her a small, somewhat peaceful smile. "I'm glad you're not part of that agenda."

* * *

Sasuke sat at his desk, looking but not seeing the paperwork in front of him. 'I really shouldn't bother myself with such trivial things' He thought to himself. _Yes_ it's been awhile since he saw his brother, and _yes_ he wanted to spend time with him. But Itachi was here on official business, he didn't want to distract his older brother with something as insignificant as dinner…

"Sasuke!"

The young Uchiha snapped out of his thoughts to face the pink haired medical examiner that had called for him so cheerfully. "Yes, Sakura?" He sighed, still somewhat distracted.

His absent-mindedness didn't seem to put her down as she smiled down at him from her standing position. "What are you doing tonight after work?" She asked playfully

The raven haired sergeant tried his best to ignore the glint in the pinkette's eye, as he took her hands in his. "I'm sorry Sakura, I actually wanted to have dinner with Itachi-"

"You did?"

Both turned around to find the source of the voice. There stood once again his brother looking peacefully pleased as he'd always remembered. Sasuke didn't miss the midnight haired agent standing behind him yet again. This time however, she appeared to be ignoring their conversation choosing instead to observe the tiles on the floor, as if they were more worthy of her attention.

Sasuke decided he did not like the woman, she acted far too smug for his liking. First snatching his own brother right in the middle of a conversation. Then acting like a hotshot in the briefing room. And now acting as though all present company was valueless in her eyes. And besides that something was off about her, he just could put his finger on it. Just as he thought that said woman's blank gaze slid from the floor to him, somewhat startling Sasuke from being caught staring.

"Sounds good to me. I'd love to catch up" Sasuke's attention was once again seized by the older Uchiha. He considered his brother as he had momentarily forgot what he was talking about . "So how about tonight at nine?" He added smiling at the younger man, his eyes crinkling into slits.

Sasuke blinked, dazed. "Yeah, sure. Sounds great."

Itachi then turned to look at the pink haired woman beside him. "You can invite your girlfriend as well." He added making the medical examiner's cheeks to blush profusely and Sasuke's neck to burn lightly. Nonetheless he nodded silently. With another smile both agents turned to leave. Not before the sergeant shared one last look with the female agent that accompanied his brother. The cold glance she sent him did nothing but increase his negative feelings toward her. He indeed did not like that woman.

"Must you be so…" Hinata raised an eyebrow at her partner as he was looking for a word to describe her behaviour. "Antagonistic," He finished sparing her a questioning glance as the elevator doors closed behind them when they entered it.

The pale eyed agent actually let out a low at his choice of words. "It's not _my_ fault." Hinata started defensively before pressing on the first floor "He started staring at me as if I was a thug down the street, and you know i don't tolerate hostile attitude. From anyone." She said with finality

Itachi let out an exasperated breath. "I understand, Hinata. But he's my brother, I haven't seen him in almost a decade, so could you act at little bit less-"

"Like myself?" She clicked her tongue quietly. "Itachi, I gave him no reason to treat me like an enemy."

The man sighed once again. "Of course not," He agreed gazing down at her. "I just- I don't want you two to fight." The Uchiha's pale hand reached upwards only to settle on the back of his neck underneath his mane of long inky hair. "I'll settle it tonight over dinner."

The pale eyed agent reciprocated the long look he gave her, smirking up at him. "You better."

* * *

After about an hour-long drive the two agents barely made it to their destination, and that was only with the help of the GPS. The two had been away from this country for too long. Hinata left at an early age that didn't require walking around shady neighborhoods like these. Itachi however, had been a police detective, so he knew his way around, albeit barely since the streets seemed to change over the course of ten years.

Slowly yet steadily they approached the police officer standing at the yellow and black _crime scene_ tape, separating the two federal agents from the place where the brunette's body was found.

The chubby officer stared at the two before finding it in himself to open his mouth. "Good morning. You must be the FBI agents." He greeted almost shakily, recognition passing his features as his eyes focused on Hinata, it seemed she got a lot of that today. In turn the bluette gave him a polite smile, before the two passed under the tape.

Making their way through the small alley Itachi spared the brunett officer a glance over his shoulder. "That's unusual." He mused, his voice the same low tenor that still managed to sound light and conversational. "He didn't ask for ID."

The bluette bit the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. "Yeah, we used to go to the same junior high," She told him matter-of-factly. "Him and the rest of the Homicide department. What kind of coincidence is that?"

The dark haired man would have chuckled, but instead he was rendered speechless as the two stared down at the place where their friend's body was found. "I'll leave you to it then." He told her with a brief comforting touch on the shoulder before he put some space between them.

Hinata sighed, once again forced to push away all her emotions in order to enter a useful albeit maddening state that was a murderer's mind. Closing her eyes she inhaled deeply.

* * *

Itachi stared at the stiff figure of his partner, it had been over five minutes and he couldn't help but worry for her mental health. He knew first hand that what she did – what they did – wasn't exactly mentally aiding. He watched as she slowly regained awareness of her surroundings, panting heavily. He followed her gaze which was focused upwards on the roof that connected the two buildings that formed the small alley. Looking at the installed plastic he came to the conclusion that it was not in fact an architectural statement, but maybe an agreement of some sort between neighbors. But why-

"Why would he leave her _here_?" Hinata asked herself out loud, clearly frustrated.

Her partner watched her curiously. It was very unlike Hinata to ask questions after looking at a crime scene. All the same, _why_ indeed. The Bishop Killer was very particular about leaving absolutely no evidence that tied the body to him or anyone. So _why_ would he – on a rainy night – place a body in an enclosed area that had assured there to be no loss of evidence.

"Ah,"

Hinata's gaze dropped to meet the telling expression on her partner's face. She could tell that he had gotten a hunch. "Hinata," He called for her attention, unnecessary since she was already waiting for him to talk. "Did you feel like something was off?"

The bluette's brows furrowed as she frowned at him. That was a stupid question. "Something's always _off_ with me, Itachi." She said bitterly.

In turn the Uchiha shook his head slowly. "That's not what I meant," He started again calmly, trying not to anger her further. "Did you feel anything that was off in your _coup d'oeil._ "

Hinata blinked up at him in confusion, because she did in fact notice something very strange about the crime scene, but she had blamed it all on her inability to detach herself completely from this case. However if Itachi was seeing what she was… "I guess.. That is if by 'off'–" She said, making air quotes at the word. "–You mean, like this-" She pointed vaguely at the concrete. "–was done by an entirely different person then, yeah I did feel like something was off."

Itachi looked at her for a moment before giving the crime scene another look around the small area. Now that Hinata had basically confirmed it, there was no doubt about it. "The protégé." He simply stated giving his partner a glance to see her reaction.

The blue haired agent stared back at him with wide white eyes It wasn't exactly something she couldn't believe, in fact it actually made sense now, the dirt on the shoe and the strange placement of the body. "The Bishop still did the killing, I'm sure of it though." She retaliated in frustration.

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly in a small smile. "There was never a doubt in my mind that you were right about that." He told her simply, making her embarrassed for doubting him and even herself for a second. "C'mon, we should go to the station and report this, maybe you'll catch up with your friends even."

"I know the concept of me having friends isn't exactly believable-" She glared at him when he chuckled lightly. "- _But,_ I haven't seen or talked to them in like 12 years, I doubt there's anything for us to talk about now."

* * *

"-And that's how I became a detective!" exclaimed Ino loudly. She and Hinata had actually decided to go out during lunch break and " _catch up"_ while Itachi reported their findings to the lieutenant in charge of the case.

"To be honest I would have never expected you of all people to go into law enforcement." The bluette said taking a sip of her tea. Apparently Ino's dad, who was a detective too, he had died on the job together with his partner, Shikamaru's father, when her and Shikamaru were seventeen. Their fathers' sacrifice for justice and the country made both of them want to do the same. The story was something Hinata could relate to on some level, since she had made her career choice for essentially the same reasons.

The blonde laughed at her comment. "I know right!" She said cheerfully in between the fries she stuffed her mouth with. "If you would have told me ten years ago I'd work for the police I'd tell you that you're crazy!"

Hinata smiled at the Yamanaka. It was amazing to her how, even through the hardships of losing her father, becoming a woman in the police and even being her father's shadow throughout a big part of her career, she still managed to stay the same cheerful, confident force of energy she always was.

Hinata had always looked up to the blonde, when they were in junior high school together, Ino was everything she wasn't. She was gloomy and shy, the blonde was boisterous and bold, yet against all odds they had become best friends. That was until Hinata had moved to the US when they were fifteen, after which they continued talking occasionally for a year before stopping completely because of time differences.

"But enough about me," Ino started, snapping the bluette out her thoughts. "What about you Hinata? How did you come an _FBI Agent_?" She questioned in awe "Even as I say it out loud I can't believe it!"

The Hyūga's smile faltered slightly, thankfully not enough for Ino to notice. "It's a long story. I'll tell you some other time." She explained while smiling at the blonde. And it was a long story indeed, but that wasn't the sole reason she didn't want to talk about it. She was still not over Kurenai's sudden death, and since they got to this country she was trying her best not to remember anything that had anything to do with the brunette. It was simply too depressing to go talk about her career to Ino when Kurenai had played a big part in it.

If the detective noticed the hidden shift in the bluette's mood she didn't comment on it. Instead a sly grin creeped up on her beautiful face, and a gleam appeared in her blue eyes, or at least in the one that wasn't covered by her long fringe. "What about your partner, he's hot!"

Hinata's eyes widened slightly before she let out a light laugh She usually found it annoying when women in every police department she and Itachi went to threw themselves at him, mostly because they were a hindrance to the investigations they were doing, but also because they completely refused to talk to her about cases. With Ino however, she found it amusing, knowing that the blonde wouldn't be as petty as other police women. So she felt no danger in saying "Sorry, he's taken." As her fingers reached to fiddle with the silver hanging around her neck.

The blonde threw herself back in her seat, clearly put down by her words. "She must be a lucky girl, then."

Hinata smiled. "You have no idea."

* * *

"So anything new on the case?"

Itachi, who had just finished a short briefing with lieutenant Tenzō was immediately met by none other than his younger brother. The dark haired Uchiha smiled at the raven-haired sergeant.

"Or is it classified FBI business?" Sasuke asked again, trying his best to sound as professional as he could; really all he wanted was an excuse to talk to his older brother. He didn't have enough patience to hold him until dinner.

Itachi chuckled airily at his brother's childish demeanor. "In fact it is not _classified FBI business_. When we have a case in a foreign country we can't really use that excuse; only on matters that concern the case that is." He explained lightly.

"Cool," Sasuke muttered as they made their way over to the older Uchiha's desk. "So," He began again, stretching the one-syllable word. "Anything new on our vic, or the killer?"

Placing the files he held onto his desk Itachi massaged the back of his neck, long plane rides could be a literal pain in the neck. "Depends how you look at it." He said, letting out a quiet groan as his neck cracked satisfactorily. "We know that our killer has a right hand man now, that's who brought the body to that location, hence the weird placement."

"You mean the roof, right?"

Itachi blinked at him once confusedly before his expression was replaced by one of restrained pride. "Yeah, how'd you come to that conclusion?" He asked genuinely curious.

Sasuke stuffed his hands in his pockets unintentionally looking anywhere but his brother. "Well I thought it was weird for someone to put a body there on a rainy night, unless they were trying to keep the body dry, for whatever reason. Or the far less likely option, they tried to save as much evidence as possible." He explained trying to imagine he was explaining one of his hunches to his team of detectives rather than having a cop talk with his brother.

Itachi gave him another small smile. "Yeah, that's the conclusion we made too. Hinata actually suggested that the so-called protégé of our killer placed it there because he didn't want the masterpiece to be ruined by the rain."

"Hinata?" The younger of the two asked, perplexed. "You mean Agent Hyūga? Are you guys on first name basis?" He questioned a tinge of jealously betraying his otherwise perfectly detached tone.

Itachi raised an eyebrow at him. "Me and _Hinata_ have known each other for five years, and we've been partners for almost four of them. So inevitably we are close enough to be on first name basis." He explained to which Sasuke just crossed his arms irritably and focused his gaze elsewhere.

"Sasuke," The older began placing a hand on the younger's shoulder making him look up into his brothers suddenly stern eyes and overall facial expression. "I'd really appreciate it if you didn't give my partner such a hard time. She's been through a lot, not to mention her mentor and mother figure was just killed by the hands of a serial we failed to catch." He paused, though Sasuke was still looking at him as though he didn't know him.

"To top it all off she's in danger. As she said this morning, Hinata and Kurenai went to speak about him to the media together five years ago, he recognized agent Yūhi, he can recognize her as well. She says he wouldn't kill again, but what if we got close enough and he might surprise her and do exactly what she thinks he won't."

Sasuke stared at his older brother through narrowed eyes, his black eyebrows knitted together in a frown. It was very unlike Itachi to talk so much, or openly show concern for anyone. His brother was a kind spirit and everyone was equal to him excep his little brother. At least that's how it used to be. Nevertheless he didn't want to worry his brother even though he still couldn't completely trust the blue haired agent. "I'll try not to give her a hard time." He offered.

Itachi smiled, though it barely reached his eyes through all the concern etched into his face. "Thanks Sasuke, it means a lot." He said sincerely, retrieving his hand back from the younger man's shoulder.

"No problem." He muttered back. Then his eyes fell on someone behind his older brother, the subject of their conversation to be exact. She was entering the office together with detective Yamanaka both smiling at one another. Did the two know each other? Sasuke thought to himself, for they were a bit too chummy when they exchanged a short hug, even for someone like the blonde.

Now the blue haired agent was heading to their direction and Itachi finally noticed his brother gaze was on something behind him, so he turned around and Sasuke could see the concern melt off of his brother's face as the two partners briefly locked eyes. That was strange, he just felt as though he missed an entire conversation in those two seconds.

"I'm not interrupting some brotherly bonding time, am I?" The bluette asked amused pale orbs directed at him.

Sasuke shook his head no. "I was just leaving." He said cooly, before giving his brother a curt nod and leaving the two to their own.

Hinata looked up at her partner to see him still looking at his brother's retreating back. "I think he knows." She said lowly. "Wait, did you tell him?"

Itachi shook his head once. "I didn't," He told her honestly. "I was waiting until dinner, actually. And I don't think he knows, he's just.. confused." The dark haired agent finished for lack of a better word.

"Well, he's not a sergeant for nothing, Itachi." She told him before a small smile made it's way onto her face. "Though I'd argue those dark and mysterious Uchiha eyes of his could get him anything he wanted."

Finally focusing his eyes on his partner he smirked down at her. "Anything, huh?"

"Yep."

"Should your fiance be worried?"

Hinata gave him a smirk of her own. "If you're going to tell him anything, tell him 'my eyes are only on you, _nikkō'._ "

"Sure thing, _gekkō._ "

* * *

A/N: _Nikkō & Gekkō -_ sunlight and moonlight (respectively) in Japanese. *Gekkō isn't at all pronounced like gecko so pls don't make fun of me.

Pffff, Itahina are like totally platonic you guys, don't even worry about it ;). As for sasusaku, I despise the pairing so I won't indulge in writing it bc it makes me gag, like no offence for those who are pro ss but that's my opinion. Anyway as for them being together, that's only f̶o̶r̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶ _for the plot._

I dunno if the summary like translated my plans for this story, bc there _is_ going to be major character death (if I even get to that point and don't abandon this fic) so like, this is my tw.

I've been really sick for the past couple of weeks (since uploading the 1st chapter essentially) and didn't really add much to the story so if I don't recover this week I won't be able to update the chapter next week, so I'm sorry in advance. And that's why I was a bit late with this chapter, plus it's like really long and I get easily sidetracked so there might be _a lot_ of mistakes. Oh and I don't upload from a PC(don't have one) I use my phone(s) but my better phone crashed and I gotta repair it and this one makes it 100 time more difficult to upload a chapter without mistakes.

Also follow me on Tumblr g-hostwriter where you can watch me reblog naruto memes, and sasuhina basically. Oh and ask me questions about this fanfic right here, and I'll try to answer without spoilers

Till next time, when we find out who Hinata's fiance is! See ya!

 _ **DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW OR I MIGHT DIE FROM LACK OF ATTENTION!**_


	4. Chapter 4: How To Act Normal

**Chapter 4: How To Act Normal**

* * *

Sasuke sat patiently at the wooden table of the Italian restaurant he had reserved for him, Itachi, and.. He squeezed his companion's much lighter hand in his as the two locked eyes with each other, coal black meeting emerald green. He looked down at her, her cherry blossom hair was pulled up in a elegant bun leaving only a couple of loose strands to frame her face. She was dressed in a knee length casually formal fitting red dress that complimented his dark blue suit perfectly.

He and Sakura had been a bit early; his brother however, was already ten minutes late. It was very unlike Itachi to be late, he had even expected him to be early.

Just as he was about to reach for his phone he saw his older brother come up to their table, he'd been dressed in a white dress shirt and jet black trousers to match his shoes. He was breathing through his nose rather heavily as though trying to catch his breath. "Good evening, sorry we're late." His brother managed to say in between pants.

Sasuke gave him a confused look and opened his mouth to ask but his girlfriend beat him to it. "We?"

Itachi dropped his head down in exhaustion to reveal a head of dark blue locks behind him. There leaning with her back on him was none other than his pale eyed partner. Slowly and rather reluctantly she stood straight up and faced them with a small smile. The female agent was wearing a sleeveless lavender blouse and a black accordion skirt that started high on her waist reached down to her ankles.

"Sasuke, Ms Haruno, I'd like you to meet someone." Itachi began, wrapping his right arm around the woman's shoulders.

The younger Uchiha glared at her and Hinata felt like this was a really bad idea.. "I believe we already met Agent Hyūga, big brother." He said obviously not pleased about the woman coming and crashing their dinner, she simply didn't belong here.

 _I don't belong here_. Hinata thought to herself as she tried to ignore the raven haired man's scrutinizing gaze.

Itachi's laugh sounded strangely awkward to her ears, but at least she wasn't the only one suffering. He pulled her a bit closer to himself and she almost stumbled out of surprise, but she caught herself only by putting her right hand over his on her own shoulder.

"Yes, you have met Agent Hyūga," Itachi began smiling as he grabbed her hand and squeezed it lightly in his. "Whom you haven't met is, Hinata Hyūga – my fiancé."

The bluette looked from the pink haired medical examiner to the raven haired sergeant, trying to spot the difference between their twin dumbfounded expressions. Then the Uchiha stood up almost slamming his palms on the table. _Oh boy._

"What!?"

As she looked into the seething face of the younger Uchiha she knew this was indeed a _very_ bad idea.

* * *

 _ **One hour ago**_

"This is a bad idea, Itachi."

Said man looked back at her reflection in the mirror he stood in front of. "How so?"

Hinata rolled her eyes at him before she pulled her lavender blouse over her head. "Don't you think you should be a less forward about it," She explained turning her back to him so he'd zip her up."Better yet, don't tell him at all, the guy clearly loathes me."

"You're probably right," He admitted as he took her long hair, parted it and pulled it over her shoulder his warm pale stopping on the start of her arms. "But I don't want to leave you here alone," He leaned down and whispered into her ear one hand leaving her arm only to be found again on her waist. "And I think it would be good for you to relax for a bit." He continued in the same baritone whisper of his.

The bluette sighed grateful to her fiance for the attempt to cheer her up, she even wished it would have worked. "Kurenai is dead, Itachi," She barely managed her voice cracking slightly. "She was killed, I can't just get over that." Goosebumps made their way onto her skin as the cold metal zipper came in contact with the sensitive flesh of her back.

"I'm not asking you to get over it." Itachi said hugging her from behind "I just can't stand by as you continue blaming yourself."

"I'm not." Hinata lied weakly, she didn't know why she even bothered sometimes he knew when she spoke a lie better than she did herself. Instead of calling her out on her lie however, he hugged her tighter.

"If you're going to blame anyone, blame me, _gekkō._ " He declared leaning his forehead onto hers when she turned around to face him in their embrace.

Hinata clenched her eyes shut at that. How could he even think that, it was only her fault, and her fault alone. "I'll try my best to act normal at dinner," She told him in an effort to reassure him if even a little.

"I suppose we should leave then, the taxi should be here by now." Hinata murmured an agreement to his suggestion and the two left the confinement of their hotel suite.

Halfway onto their destination the two had got themselves stuck in traffic. "Sorry it seems the streets are quite busy tonight." Mumbled the taxi driver apologetically.

Hinata huffed in annoyance, blowing her bangs out on her face in result. "I hope your brother doesn't mind that we're late." She muttered under her breath.

Checking his watch Itachi sighed. "I hope so too," It was already five minutes til nine, he'd be a fool if he thought that they were going to make it before nine thirty. And he even forgot to get Sasuke's phone number; he never forgot anything.

The bluette groaned on the right side of the backseat. She knew that this dinner date was very important to her fiance, and that he didn't want to upset or disappoint his little brother, or worse yet make him wait; he'd already been waiting for almost a decade. With all of that in mind Hinata lifted her skirt enough to place her foot on her knee so she could remove the heeled shoe she had been wearing.

Itachi stared at his frustrated partner in confusion, but still caught her shoes when she threw them in his general direction. "Uh.." he stuttered when she placed her hand on his thigh. " _Gekkō_ , what exactly are you doing?" He finally managed when she started climbing on top of him. This was taking a very weird turn.

Hinata blinked down at him from where she sat, straddling his lap. " What does it look like I'm doing, " She raised an eyebrow at him, apparently oblivious to the position they are in, and the nervous glances the driver gave in their direction. "I'm getting out of here, is what I'm doing, and you are too." She told him opening the car door, which wasn't a problem for they weren't moving anyway. "Don't forget to pay the driver." Was the last thing she said before exiting the vehicle.

Itachi couldn't help the amused smirk that made it's way onto his face. _That_ was unexpected. Nevertheless he didn't let himself dwell on it as he quickly reached for the cash in his wallet and paid the man in the driver's seat before following after his fiance.

He spotted her on the sidewalk checking something on her phone. Upon appearing by her side he noticed that she was looking at a map that had a highlighted path on it, from their current location to their destination.

"It's like a ten minute walk from here. It'd take us like an hour to get there in this traffic." She explained herself lamely "Let's go." Was the only warning he got before she started walking, sprinting even, barefoot on the concrete holding her ankle-length skirt up to her knees.

Feeling guilty for the whole thing Itachi quickly went after her and scooped her up, his left arm supporting her back and his right one her legs. He hadn't done that in a while.

Hinata stared incredulously at him with a red hot blush creeping up her otherwise pale neck. As Itachi started walking, rather fast too, Hinata was forced to wrap her arms around his neck for support.

"Itachi!" She finally managed to hiss out through her embarrassment. "What do you think you're doing?" The bluette demanded through gritted teeth.

"Carrying you to the restaurant," He replied in that matter-of-fact tone of voice he had. "What does it look like I'm doing?" She could hear the obvious teasing layer over the statement.

Hinata chose to ignore the rhetorical question, instead she huffed in frustration and muttered a low, "Idiot" loud enough for him to hear and give her a lopsided smile. "This is anti-productive"

With Itachi's fast pace they had made it to their destination in under ten minutes. The dark haired man placed her down on the cold concrete and handed her shoes to her so she could put them on before they entered.

* * *

Hinata sighed loudly. She hadn't just gone through all of that, albeit unwillingly, only to receive dirty looks from the younger Uchiha. Not paying attention to the disbelieving expression on the young man's face, she pulled a chair from a nearby table. However, after she did so she decided to sit in the only spare chair that was there to begin with only to spite the raven-haired cop, knowing full well the chair was meant for Itachi.

"Sit down, _dear_." She coaxed making Itachi give her a strange look, because both knew they never called each other that.

Nevertheless he sat down and took Hinata's hand into his on the table not missing how his brother's frowning eyes followed the action. "Look Sasuke," The older Uchiha began inducing him and his partner to look at him. "I know this is sudden, but I hope you could accept Hinata into our small family."

Sasuke looked into his brother's hopeful eyes, not knowing how to respond to this situation. He suddenly felt his own hand be squeezed by a smaller and softer one, his eyes turned to focus on his partner, his storm of thoughts calming down when black orbs met green. Why was he even against his brother and the blue haired agent together? She didn't sit well with him for one reason or another, but she obviously did sit well with Itachi, why else would his brother think about marrying her.

Sasuke had met all handful of girlfriends the older Uchiha had while still in Japan and Sasuke was very vocal about his dislike towards them, and Itachi didn't ever deny his younger brother's suggestion to break up with neither of them. However the young sergeant could tell that wouldn't work this time around, not that he would make his brother call of a wedding just for his own unknown selfish reasons. He could tell Itachi cared for the woman, if his previous talk with him about the latter was any indication to this.

The young Uchiha blinked and turned back to face his brother. "Sorry," he said stiffly. "I overreacted a bit."

Hinata resisted the urge to scoff at the understatement and the insincerity of the apology. But before she could the waiter had shown up handing out menus to everyone at the table, easing out some of the awkward tension in the process.

"Will you be ordering now or–"

"I'll have a Cioppino stew and a glass of Chardonnay, please." Both Hinata and Itachi said at the same time, his baritone low voice harmonizing melodically with her slightly higher pitched one.

The two smiled to themselves still looking up at the waiter who gave them a strange look because they had to have rehearsed that. Deciding not to dwell on it he turned to the other couple.

Sasuke glared at nothing in particular as he ordered a pasta with red sauce. He couldn't really explain his attitude with the blue haired woman, best he could explain it was frustration and plain dislike. It was bad enough that she was Itachi's partner, but now she's his _fiance_? Sasuke's future _sister in law_? That's just outrageous. He barely knew this woman for the entirety of the day and he had accept her just like that as part of his family? Did Itachi really think so highly of him?

"So how did you two come to know each other?" The long haired Uchiha trying to ease the tension that Sasuke made.

At that Sakura immediately hooked her arm around Sasuke's affectionately looking up at him. "We met in college, it was like love at first sight!" The pinkette gushed proceeding to lean on his shoulder. "Isn't that right, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha snapped out of his daze and stared back at his lover, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. "I wouldn't call that," He began evenly while his arm found its way around her shoulders. "We had a lot of classes together and and we just kind of hit off after some time," He leaned his face on his hand and looked down at the table "Then we started working together after college, and we started dating after a while."

Sakura was smiling giddily down in her lap and Hinata have her partner a side glance silently asking if he was going to break the silence this time again. Itachi just gave her a mock annoyed look and turned to the couple in front of them.

"Well, _we_ met about five years ago," Itachi started making the two look up at them, Hinata in turn covered her eyes in embarrassment feeling a hot blush come up her neck because that was not what she meant by breaking the silence. "Hinata was a detective at the Metropolitan Police Department in DC and I was investigating the Bishop Killer case with Agent Sarutobi" His voice cracked a little as he said the agent's name, nevertheless he smiled at them, "And then after a year Hinata joined the FBI and we started dating. After some time I proposed and now we're engaged."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his older brother. "That sounds really romantic." He said sarcastically and Hinata threw a glare his way despite her embarrassment, not that she didn't agree with him. But she could see the how the two were similar in that they both couldn't express their feelings in words.

"Like you're one to talk" She mumbled under her breath loud enough for the young Uchiha to hear her and send a dirty look her way. Their narrative of the events sounded like vague reports and not a story about how they had met and fallen in love with the person they wanted to spend the rest of their life with – she could only vouch for herself and Itachi on that one though.

There was yet another long silence that followed which was surprisingly broken by the younger Uchiha's pink haired companion. "I think I'll go to the bathroom, do mind joining me, Ms. Hyūga?"

Grateful for the opportunity to leave the awkward atmosphere Hinata stood up headed to the ladies' room with the young woman.

"Are you and Agent Uchiha really together?" Sakura – she finally remembered her first name – asked curiously when they were at the sink washing their hands.

Hinata raised her eyebrows at her but nonetheless reached under the neckline of her blouse and pulled on the silver chain underneath. After taking off the necklace all together Sakura noticed the ring dangling from it, her green eyes following it as the bluette placed it on her right ring finger and wiggled her hand in her face. "Does this answer your question?" She added sardonically.

The pinkette just nodded dumbly still staring at the sparkling diamond ring. "Why don't you wear it? Does it not fit?"

Hinata sighed and started examining the ring herself. "No, it fits. I appreciate the gesture and the meaning, that's why I wear it on my neck. But I don't like the bling and it being constantly in my field of vision, it's a distracting inconvenience." The thing that was so distracting to her about it was the fact that she couldn't stop thinking about who gave it to her once her eyes fell on it, but she wasn't about to tell the pinkette _that._

* * *

"Really Itachi? Really?"

The older Uchiha sat patiently – although his patience was thinning – leaning his forehead on the palm of his hand, trying not to listen to his younger brother complain about his choice of partner.

"Engaged? To her? Why her of all people?"

"I love her Sasuke, that's why. And you better get that through your head before I leave you here and go back home." The older finally snapped leaving Sasuke to stare at him in surprised silence. "Because that's what I'm going to do if you don't stop insulting the woman I plan to spend the rest of my life with, right in front of me."

The young sergeant just glared at his older brother. _Just great_ Itachi thought bitterly, first day back in the country and he already managed to get a headache from his little brother. He sighed once again in order to make his voice calmer before talking. "Hinata's a great person and I really think you two would get along if you'd just give her a chance."

Sasuke scoffed from across the table and crossed his arms over his chest. "How'd that stupid idea get into your head?" He asked sarcastically.

"Well, she reminds me of you a lot," Itachi explained, grateful that the waiter had came with their wine, and even more grateful to Hinata coming back, she smiled and he couldn't help but relax and smile back when she waved at him and he saw her engagement ring. They were better off not separated, is the conclusion he came to when she sat down next to him and put her hand on his under the table, sensing leftover frustration from the conversation with his brother.

It was better when they stayed together, they were calmer, more patient and everything was just _right_ when she was by his side. Not that they were nothing without each other, just two half of a whole and it was just _better_ when they were one.

Itachi finally averted his gaze from her pale eyes when the waiter had brought their food. They sat and ate in silence for some time, but Itachi didn't miss how Sasuke had been just moving the food around on his plate and not actually eating. Maybe he had gone too far with his scolding if it made the younger behave this way. Nonetheless, he wasn't going to comment on it either, knowing his brother had behaved foolishly and had to think about it before Itachi gave him a free pass.

Seemingly making his mind up about something Sasuke let his fork loudly hit his plate and lifted his eyes to the woman across from him. "I think I owe you an apology,"

Itachi watched as his fiancé raised her perfectly arched brow at his younger brother as she brought the wine glass to her lips, taking a sip. "You thin-"

"Apology accepted," Itachi cut it before the bluette could create more problems for the both of them, he really just wanted to enjoy his dinner with his brother and fiancé, the other present company was… easily ignored, since she didn't talk much.

"Whatever," Hinata muttered indicating that the apology was indeed accepted even though she wasn't happy about it.

Sighing in relief Itachi finally thought it safe to pursue small talk for conversation. "So Sasuke, how long have you had the sergeant badge for?"

"Hm?" The younger appeared to have regained his appetite for he had started eating and his mouth was full now. "One year, I think," He replied after swallowing.

"Good for you, kid" Hinata commented earning herself a glare from the sergeant telling her 'we're the same age, don't call me kid' but she skilfully ignored him. "Itachi and I never made sergeant, how's it different from being detective?"

He gave her a deadpan look for her blatant boasting of the fact that she and his brother were taken by the FBI as soon as they hit the appropriate age for it, she just smirked at him and he decided he wasn't going to give up easily. "I wouldn't say it's all that different, but it's satisfying to boss everyone around at the department, since lieutenant Tenzō avoids doing that I get to do it in his stead. What about you? What does the title of _Special Agent_ come with?" He asked sarcastically trying to spite her.

It must have worked because she wasn't smirking anymore but glaring back at him. "It comes with a lot of dignity and patience." She gritted out. "Oh and my fist in your face!"

Itachi decided he didn't want to intervene into their bickering instead sharing a sympathetic smile with the pinkette across from him he realized this was going to be a long evening.

* * *

 **Small announcement for those who don't read my author's notes:** shame on you, but actually I'm not going to update next week because my phone broke (but you would have known that had you read the previous a/n) and the one I use now is crappy. There's no guarantee that my good phone will be repaired by the week after the next but I'll post a chapter then anyway sincr I'll have more time to work on it (which I need because this phone is my making my job very difficult)

 **A/n:** AAAAA I'm finally done with this garbage of a chapter, i hope you forgive me for this disappointment of a chapter. like I'm sorry guys but I'll admit that I hated writing it, and this is the chapter I wanted to write the most when I first started this story, what a _fool_ I am. Well at least I'm done with it and I can continue along with the plot. I'm sorry I had to make you go through this word dump,

A message to a guest who didn't read through my sarcasm about Itahina being platonic and was actually _glad_ that they're friends in this story and hoped to see Hinata with someone else: ... whoops?

To everyone else that got pranked but actually wanted some itahina: HA! And you're welcome.

Anyway, please review (all the chapters except this one, cuz I already know it's garbage and I'm sorry)


	5. Chapter 5: How To Open an Old Wound

**Chapter 5: How To Open an Old Wound**

* * *

" _Y'know my dad is like a super talented surgeon,"_

 _Sixteen year-old Hinata turned to look at her friend, her pale eyes meeting the older girl's orange ones. "Y-yeah? What kind of s-surgery does he perform?" The bluette inquired meekly._

 _The mint haired girl put a finger up to her temple as if in deep thought. "I don't really know. Never really thought to ask," She answered truthfully before offering Hinata a wide grin, who in turn smiled shyly. "He even works in the coolest hospital in all of DC," She continued boasting proudly about her father and Hinata listened intently._

" _It's like a really long name, but that's what makes it so cool!" Hinata giggled at the older girl's excitement admiring the sky above them, only to close her eyes when the glaring sun rays became too much for her._

" _Hinata!"_

 _The bluette opened her eyes at the girl's cheerful voice, only to see that she wasn't outside anymore. Looking around even through the pitch black darkness she recognized the apartment the two rented after finishing high school. She tried turning the light on but no light came_

" _Fū?" Hinata called out into the darkness but no answer came so she proceeded to the living room, after noticing a faint light coming from it. Opening the wooden door she found the light was coming from the television that was showing a grainy gray image of nothing._

 _Her eyes traveled downwards and she had to hold the door frame because her knees became weak. A silent scream escaped her when she saw Fū lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Rushing over to her Hinata, hoping she wasn't dead, frantically turned her on her back only to jump back, terrified._

 _Fū's whole front was covered in the red liquid and her chest had a gaping bloody hole in it._

 _Hinata screamed in terror and crawled away closing her eyes shut, but that only made it worse. All she could see was her friend's lifeless eyes. But suddenly they weren't so dead anymore instead they were scared, terrified fiery eyes looking straight at her._

" _Fū, I-I … I d-didn't do t-this!" The bluette exclaimed through loud sobs. But that didn't seem to comfort the girl as her horror filled eyes looked down and Hinata saw her own hands gripping her friend's neck, squeezing the life out of her._

" _N-no!" She screamed but her hands didn't retract from her neck even when Fū's hands gripped her own and she tried pulling Hinata's away albeit unsuccessfully as her eyes rolled back and her grip slackened until her hands fell useless on the floor._

 _Without control over her body Hinata reached for something near her before her hand came into her vision holding a knife. Hinata cried and sobbed and tried to stop herself as her hand lifted itself over her head then slammed it down onto the girl's chest with so much force the knife must have stuck into the wooden floor._

 _Hinata gasped as Fū's body reacted, her eyes and opened wide in pure bodily shock and pain her body arched upwards before falling lifelessly on the floor, eyes still open but empty. Still Hinata's hands didn't stop and retracted the knife from the girl's chest before plunging down again and again. Hinata had stopped crying altogether and stared with wide eyes as blood sprayed everywhere even her face, mingling with the wet tears on it._

Hinata opened her eyes, waking up in cold sweat. She started at the ceiling above her, she was wet all over, even her face was, be it from tears or sweat she didn't bother to check.

It must have been at least eight years since she had a nightmare, or even a thought, about _that_ night. She had long since repressed them since they had been haunting her until she did. Turning to her side she was met with worried onyx eyes staring back at her. Itachi placed a warm hand on her cheek, thumb caressing it softly. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

He simply shook his head and brought himself a bit closer to her. "You know I'm not a very sound sleeper," He said with a still worried smile that was asking her what was wrong. Hinata didn't like to keep things from Itachi, not that she did so on purpose in this case, they met years after she had completely blocked away all the bad memories, and she didn't want to dig them out just to talk about it, but since they dug themselves out…

"I had a nightmare," She started and he gave her a look that said he'd already figured out that much but still urged her to continue. "It was about the first time I had a _coup d'oeil,_ as you like to call it. I was eighteen and," She swallowed hard her finally decided to try to move her limbs, it worked, she reacted to put her palm over his on her cheek. "My roommate, she was my best friend, was killed, asphyxiated until loss of consciousness then killed with 24 stab wounds to the chest.

"Back then I couldn't control it, I was just so scared when I saw her that I closed my eyes and then I was killing her, it was me," Hinata looked into his eyes, the worry in them was too much but she was still too afraid to close her own. "It was my hands, I strangled her and I stabbed her and I couldn't do anything about it, I couldn't stop, there was blood everywhere and I-I"

"Hinata, you're hyperventilating, breathe," Itachi's steady low voice brought her back to reality and she looked at him as he breathed in and out, she mimicked him until she didn't feel the edges of reality slowly burning away, until lifeless orange orbs in front of her turned back into worried black ones.

"You didn't do it, gekkō _._ " He murmured reassuringly, his warm lips moving across her forehead. "It was all in your head."

"Yeah, I- I know, the police – even though I told them it was all me – they wouldn't lock me up. There wasn't any blood on me, but I saw it there for weeks, it wouldn't wash off." She whimpered looking at her spotless palms in relief.

"I read about it in your file." Itachi admitted."Did the shrink repress your memories when they sent you there?" he questioned lightly and Hinata was more than grateful for the mild change of subject.

She tried nodding but I came out more of a shudder from her shivering body. "Most of them anyway. I had still remembered what happened, but vaguely, it wasn't as vivid anymore and I couldn't remember what I saw . Everything else that was related to her was repressed almost completely so I wouldn't remember or think about it unless someone asked me like if there'd be need for more questioning, but they closed the case even though they didn't find the killer." Up til now all of this was barely a thought to Hinata and now all these memories came flooding over, she felt as though someone had poured a couple of gallons of ice water on her.

Itachi stroked her hair attempting to comfort her and to his relief it worked because after a minute or so she had stopped shivering. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Hinata's wide white eyes snapped to look at him and she wanted to shake her head no but instead the contents of her dream started coming out of her mouth. At some point he embraced her and that has made it easier to describe what it felt like to stab, no, to _see_ herself stab – she corrected herself since she didn't need that guilt overtaking her for the second time – her best friend over and over again.

Her fiancé placed his lips in between her brows in order to smooth the frown there. "It's fine, it didn't happen, it was all in your head," He continued chanting like a mantra, on and on, until Hinata got it through her head that all was fine, what she saw behind her closed eyes didn't in fact happen and it was all in her head.

"Thank you," She whispered when she finally felt sleep take over her once again as Itachi continued to speak words of comfort into her ear.

* * *

It had been a pretty irritable morning for Sasuke. Sakura hadn't come over like she would usually and he had to go to work alone, not that he minded being alone, far from it, he was just very attached to routine and when it was disrupted he'd become more annoyed. Granted he was even more annoyed when his girlfriend started disturbing his routine in the first place a couple of years ago, but that was then and this was now, and now he just wanted stability in his everyday life.

Speaking of stability, his brother was _engaged_. It had already been a week since _the_ _dinner_ and could still barely comprehend the news. It shouldn't have surprised him as it did, Itachi was already in his early thirties, he had to settle down eventually. But it felt too soon to Sasuke, maybe it had something to do with the fact that the last time he'd seen him, Itachi was twenty three. That still didn't make the whole situation feel less wrong, his brother always had poor taste in women anyway, but to go as far as to get engaged to one of his poorly made decisions was just plain stupid.

He let out a heavy sigh as he flipped one of the tomatoes he was frying, he _had_ promised Itachi to give his fiancé – just thinking it made Sasuke cringe – a chance, but damn them, if he had to listen to them call each other sunlight and moonlight one more ti-

The hotheaded man's thoughts were interrupted by the ringtone of his phone. Picking it up from the kitchen counter he saw it was Itachi who was calling. "Hey, what's up?" He murmured after answering the call.

"Hey, loser," The voice in the other line almost made him drop his spatula, for it had been _her_ voice.

"What are you doing with my brother's phone, Agent Hyūga?" He asked hoping the way he said her name showed how much distaste he held for her.

"Calm down, he's taking a shower." The woman seemed be busy as she murmured something under her breath before continuing. "Anyway, believe or not I'm not calling just to annoy you anything, I'm sure even though I'm a mile away you still drown yourself in spite-"

Sasuke clicked his tongue loudly indicating for her to get to the point already, she sighed audibly. "Fine, Itachi asked you to pick us up, we need to go interview Asuma – I mean Mr. Sarutobi, you know your vic's husband, his schedule is clear this morning so we –"

"Okay, I get it, I'll be there in twenty minutes." He grumbled before hanging up. Letting out an irritated groan Sasuke picked up his onigiri and headed to his bedroom to get changed.

* * *

After a long and rather awkward ride the trio had finally made it to the politician's home. Hinata was the one to ring the doorbell before they were let in.

As soon as the man was in her field of vision Hinata swiftly walked over and hugged him. Surprised but not displeased the brunette man hugged her back. "Good morning to you too, Agent Hyūga." He greeted and the sorrow in his voice made guilt wash over Hinata.

"I'm sorry-" _I wasn't there with her, I'm sorry that I didn't catch him five years ago It's all my fault and I'm so sorry "_ \- for your loss" There was so much she wanted to tell Asuma, so much to apologise for, but the words didn't seem to want to materialize themselves. She was partially thankful that Asuma had already been told about Kurenai's death by the police department, because she doubted she could go through with it.

"Thank you," was all he said before they let go of each other. Hinata wiped her eyes, even though they were dry they still stung badly. Asuma turned to look at the other familiar face in his home, he gave Itachi a smile. "Agent Uchiha," He said as the other took his extended hand for a handshake. The older make then noticed another person standing at his doorstep, had it not been for the uncanny resemblance he wouldn't have to the conclusion that "You must be Agent Uchiha's younger brother." He acknowledged offering his hand.

The young man shook it before answering the older man's inquiry. "Sergeant Uchiha Sasuke, TMPD Homicide." Sasuke formally introduced himself, he felt awkward in the obvious air of familiarity between his two companions and the man. Even if he addressed them both so formally he could tell they were more than mere acquaintances.

They started to make their way over to the livIng room after Asuma suggested they do so. Hinata – quite literally, considering her job as a profiler – couldn't help but notice and analyse the house's design and interior. It was mostly traditional but with a thin layer of high-class, the cherry on top. She could tell that it was Kurenai that kept the traditional side of things like the genkan in the entrance or the low table in the living room. She hadn't sat at one of those in a while.

Again, beside herself, her mind flew to memories, from years and years ago, of cold evenings in Washington spent under a warming kotatsu accompanied by her friend with even warmer orange eyes, her usually spiky shoulder length mint colored hair – frizzy from the outside rain and overall humidity.

" _Y'know what, Hinata?"_

 _Hinata looked over at Fū, her best friend ever since she got to the States. Fū was also of Japanese descent, both her parents were born there, she was too, but unlike Hinata, she was raised in America for most of her life. That didn't stop them from being friend, both fluent in the two languages of the countries that they lived in, they hit off almost immediately when she was transferred into Fū's school and eventually class._

" _What?"_

 _They had been laying under the kotatsu for a while now chatting about one thing or another, half finished tea and homework long forgotten on the table. Or it would have been had Hinata not felt thirsty enough to drink the now barely lukewarm beverage at that moment._

" _Your old man can go and get himself bent, that's what!"_

 _Hinata immediately regretted taking the cold tea, for not only did it not taste that good anymore but she also choked on it courtesy of her best friend's exclamation. "Th-that's not very n-nice, Fū"_

 _Fū didn't ever hide her… rather negative feelings towards her father and family in general. It was very considerate of her to get mad on her family on her behalf, since Fū knew about the reason why she was sent to here to study in the first place, when no one from her family had been._

 _The whole Hyūga family were respected lawyers in Tokyo. And the main family, which she was part of, was beyond respected. For at least the last couple of generations the males in the line were the District Attorneys of Tokyo. It wasn't like an inherited title or anything like that, it was just that her father, her grandfather,her grand-grandfather and were so good at their job that nobody never thought about getting someone else to do it._

 _Her father didn't have any sons, just two daughters, not that her gender was too much of an obstacle, that was the least of his problems. What was an obstacle however, was the fact that she was tremendously bad at law. When Hinata was fifteen he had decided that there was virtually no hope for her as a lawyer. That's when he sent her to Washington, probably thinking isolating her from her own life would motivate her to pursue a career as a lawyer, if not District Attorney. It didn't, but she still did her best in school at least a handful of scholarships. And now she had all the capability to go to law school and maybe take the title of DA after her father, but that didn't mean she wanted to._

 _Fū scoffed audibly and propped her upper body on her elbows to look down on Hinata. "Rude, my foot. That's no way to treat your child, y'know." She reached for her own tea, only to make a disgusted face and mutter a low "Gross" when the liquid washed down her throat. "What I think you should do is not go to law school just to spite him! Ooh, I know, go to Clown College, that'll do it for him."_

 _Hinata smiled to herself. The idea was very tempting, to just pick a college_ she _wanted to go to, not one that her father chose for her. "You know I can't do that," Her smile turned bittersweet as she realized how much little control she had over her own life. She couldn't even do such a simple thing as pick a career, she didn't know who she wanted to be, her life was basically prewritten and she had never been given a pen, she didn't even allow herself to dream._

 _Her mint haired friend gave her a sympathetic look that in Hinata's eyes looked borderline to pity. "Don't beat yourself up over it, Hina." She sat up fully and threw her hand over the bluette's shoulders. "I know you never think about these things but, what's something that you want to do, no matter what?" Fū asked, her voice cheerful and comforting enough that for once Hinata allowed herself to just_ think _about it._

" _I-" Her voice broke a little, but she cleared her throat and continued. "I just want to help people."_

 _Hinata watched in horror filled silence at her own hands wrapped tightly around her best friend's neck as Fū desperately tried to gasp for a breath of air until her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her body fell limp and useless on the floor._

Hinata caught herself stumbling, or rather was caught by a strong and familiar arm, before she could fall face first on the wooden floor. _Just like…_

"Hinata, are you alright?" Came her fiance's worried whisper in her ear as he helped her stand up straight. The other two, who had walked past them and sat themselves at the low table, had missed the fact that Hinata almost fainted in that moment, probably thinking she just lost her footing or something. But Itachi was more perceptive than that, especially when it came to her. "Me and Sasuke can handle it, maybe you can go sit it out in the car,"

Itachi's suggestion was more than inviting, but she needed to be here for both Kurenai's and Asuma's sakes. She had to be strong. "You know I can't do that, Itachi. This is bigger than me and things that happened nine years ago."

Itachi gave her a long look before letting out a sigh, after all he could rarely ever win in these kinds of arguments. "It sure is hitting you harder than what happened a week ago." He muttered under his breath.

Hinata blew her bangs out of her eyes and glared weakly at her worried fiancé. "I'm fine." She said with definite finality before going to sit down at the table with Itachi following suite.

"I assume you're aware as to why we're here." The raven haired sergeant asked the man, sending a strange look into his brother's direction who either didn't notice or plain ignored him. Itachi seemed completely zoned out, frowning down at his partner making Sasuke think that he must have missed an intense interaction between the two from the walk out of the car, because they seemed more than fine on the ride here. However silent said ride was, he could tell that at least their silence was a comfortable one.

"To ask me for my whereabouts last Tuesday night?" At Asuma's guess Itachi's and Hinata's heads snapped over to the man sitting across the table.

"No, Asuma!" Hinata shouted, sounding borderline offended at the man's suggestion. "How could you even think that?"

" _We're not..?"_ Sasuke asked himself silently, his brother must have picked up on his confusion because he started explaining.

"We already know who the killer is-"

"That's an overstatement, we just know it wasn't you," Hinata corrected him, because they in fact, did _not_ know who killed Kurenai, and it she was to blame for it. Feeling a large comforting hand on her thigh she spared a glance to look at Itachi but he wasn't looking still staring at the older man across the table.

"We're here because we'd like to know the reason as to why Agent Sarutobi was here in Tokyo." He finally asked which seemed to make Asuma give them a confused look.

He looked from one agent to another before answering with his own question."You two don't know? Kurenai said it wasn't strictly classified when she told me about it."

" _She lied?"_ Hinata asked herself, recalling the short phone call she and Itachi had with Director Hatake a couple of days ago. They called with the same questions that they came to Kurenai's husband for, hoping it would shed some light on their case, which it probably would, had the gray haired man been even a little help, which he wasn't. Apparently Kurenai's leave for Tokyo was completely personal, at least that's what she said to the leader of the Behavior Analysis Unit. Now they knew that was not entirely the case.

"Is that what she told you?"

Asuma gave Itachi a strange look. "Yes, that's what she told me. What's going on, Itachi?" He demanded forgetting his politeness for a moment, and Itachi didn't mind, for they were usually on first name basis, but Asuma considered it courtesy to address them "properly" when they were on duty.

The look shared between the two agents seemed to make him even more uneasy as his fists clenched on the table. Hinata sighed and tried to briefly explain what Kakashi told them, which proved to be difficult since she barely understood Kurenai's actions herself.

Sasuke was also listening intently, wondering exactly why hadn't they shared this information, it's not like they didn't have the chance. Hell, they could've told him on the way here, but they didn't and that bothered him. Did they, especially his brother, not think him trustworthy enough to tell him? As the blue haired agent ended her monologue he decided he'd pester Itachi for answers later, in favor of listening what the victim's husband had to say, since the man looked almost as confused by the news as he did.

"Forgive me, Age- Oh what the hell! Hinata, what do you make of this?" The bluette was surprised at his small outburst, but she was pleased to hear him call her by her name, they were friends and it made her uncomfortable when he didn't, even moreso now that they were talking about Kurenai's death.

She let out a small sigh before answering."I'd give you my opinion Asuma, but I barely have one. That's why we'd like to know what she told you."

"Right," He muttered before his hands dropped down to his legs that were folded underneath him. "I don't know much, just that she was here because of some drug cartel or something. She told me that she didn't think much of it before, but in the last couple of months there have been a lot of deaths that she connected to them, that's not counting the overdoses that happened because of them. So she flew out here to take care of that." Asuma seemed to have finished with what he was saying, but then his eyes found Hinata's, seeing the sheer turmoil in them she knew that whatever he was about to say would probably feel even worse them looking into his deep brown eyes. "She was going to stay afterwards, retire from the Bureau, and we were going to finally start a family…"

Yes, Hinata thought bitterly averting her eyes, that did feel a lot worse, like rubbing salt on an open, still bleeding, flesh wound. Looking at the broken man before her, she realized just how much she wanted to mourn Kurenai's death with him and her partner. However, her coffee-infused mind – something it wasn't used to, due to her usual dislike for the bitter beverage – had other plans, like analysing the newly acquired information.

 _How, in her pursuit of some no-name drug cartel, did Agent Sarutobi end up being caught by the Bishop Killer? Is he part of that cartel? No, that's unlikely. The Bishop is a lone wolf he'd never… Well that's what I used to think before too, yet he turned out to have a protege, something I still find out of character for him. But then again being part of a criminal organisation and adopting a little helper are two entirely different things. The former means he is still in control while that's not at all the case when it comes to the latter. If the profile I created over the years is anywhere near close to the truth, then even as much as the man likes control and money he is too proud of himself and his intellect to go anywhere near drugs. So-_

Once again her borderline frantic thoughts were cut off, this time by a nudge on her, the action almost made her drop her head since it was supported by the hand that was disturbed. She took out the thumb out from between her teeth, which she must have unconsciously placed there, surprised she hadn't snapped herself out of her own daze considering the digit was very close to bleeding out.

"You seem very out of it today, Hyūga."

Hinata raised her white eyes to look across the table at the black orbs of her partner's brat of a brother, vaguely noticing that Itachi and Asuma weren't at the table anymore instead they were talking at another corner of the room. "Must be because I am,"

Sasuke scoffed at that his ever present glare mocking her. "The FBI should've sent someone more mentally capable then."

Hinata glared back at him and almost had the urge to slam her hand on the table, but didn't want to attract the other present company's attention. She settled for a scowl, all the while clenching her fists under the table. "Out of it or not, I'm more than capable of catching this guy,"

"Whatever," The young sergeant sighed irritably and leaned back slightly, crossing his arms in front of him. "Don't mistake this for me caring about you, because I don't," He started warningly, sparing the other two people in the room, specifically his brother, a sideways glance before continuing. "– but I can tell that Itachi does, and you better get yourself together and stop hurting my brother."

The bluette relaxed visibly as she stared blankly at him before letting out a short humorless laugh. "We are more alike than I'd care to admit, Uchiha."

* * *

coup d'oeil - A glimpse, a glance; the ability, especially of a military officer, to understand much at a glance.

Hello readers, a bit of an early update, next week is going to be the usual Thursday or whatever it usually is in your neck of the woods.

I'm back with another "long" chapter. Honestly I'm setting unrealistic standards for myself and my writing, initially I was going to have chapters be like 2,5k-3k words, that's not too much and not too little is what I thought, but I just always have too much crap to say. I don't even know where it comes from half of the time. Like sometimes I can like sit for half an hour just staring at the document and not write anything, and other times I pull my phone out and write up a whopping 1k words in like the same amount of time. Crazy.

Anyway I forgot to explain what coup d'oeil meant in Ch3(imma edit it in after my phone gets fixed)my bad

I sometimes do sketches (only characters tho), I'm not that good (but I'm especially bad at drawing anything other than people) but in the near future I'd like to post one character sketch for every chapter, preferably relevant to said chapter, like outfits, or scenes, who knows. I only have a couple of character sketches up on my Tumblr ( g-hostwriter; tagged/ghost art) and although I did them with this fic in mind they're barely relevant.

On my tumblr you can also message me, or send me asks o about "How To Catch a Crime Syndicate" especially since I can't really answer your reviews here (which is something I'd like to do) without bloating the word count (which is not something I'd like to do).

Anyway thanks for reading, please review (or do the above mentioned) to keep my heart warm, and me motivated. Love you all :)

….

Alternative to Hinata's second to last response to Sasuke:

"Out of it or not I'm still more than capable of catching this guy... Right after I pull my foot out of your ass,"

Aka I've been watching way too much of "That 70s Show" (I feel like this is a end of the episode blooper or smth)


	6. Chapter 6: How To Connect the Dots

**Chapter 6: How To Connect the Dots**

 **A/n:** get ready for some itahina fluff, boiss (since y'all don't seem to care for the plot anyway)

* * *

Hinata woke up, for umpteenth time that week terrified and gasping for breath, as if someone strangled _her_ in the nightmares she had. Unfortunately it wasn't even getting old at all, each time she relived it, it felt worse. Pulling herself up in a sitting position she wiped her sweaty forehead with her hand. The obvious absence of her fiance by her side and the distinct smell of eggs and bacon told her that he was in the kitchen making breakfast.

Standing up from their bed she made her way over to the source of the smell that overtook their whole apartment. When she did reach him she stared at his back as he turned a piece of bacon on the frying pan. His hair pulled up in a messy bun, she could tell that he didn't wake up long ago since he only pulled his hair up like that when they slept together, they both did since it used to get extremely tangled when they didn't. Walking up to him she put her head under his left arm and hugged him from the side.

Itachi let out a small laugh that could almost be mistaken for a mere exhale. "Good morning, gekkō" He murmured and although she couldn't see him, for her face was buried in his chest, she could still hear him smiling.

"Mmhm," was all she offered him snuggling closer to him, if he wasn't as trained in combat as he was he would probably lose his balance, but all Hinata was doing was basically recharging her battery. All the nightmares were getting to her and he was the only thing keeping her sanity in check. After all, how could the moon shine with light if there's no sun.

"Are you feeling better?"

Hinata looked up at him, considering his lips for a moment before she stood on her tiptoes and placed her own lips on the corner of his mouth. "Now I am,"

Amused by her Itachi smirked down, placing the bacon and sunny side up prepared eggs onto two separate plates. With his hands finally free, he placed them both on her lower back started playing with the bottom of her black tank top. "Now then," He whispered lowly in her ear after he had placed his head on her shoulder. "What did I tell you about pulling that sort of trick in the mornings, Hyūga?"

And Hinata didn't have enough time to process what his obviously rhetorical question, much less respond, before Itachi lifted her top just enough to place his unusually _freezing hands on her bare back_. His hands had never felt so big as they did in that moment, it felt like they covered her entire back. Hinata jumped and tried wiggling out of his grasp, all the while laughing and flinching because of all the goosebumps that made their way onto her whole body.

"I won't do it anymore, I'm sorry! Please, Itachi!" She managed, although she didn't stop slapping him on the back.

Deciding to have mercy on her, he removed his hands from under her top and placed them on her waist. When her eyes finally focused on him he pulled her closer and kissed her on the lips. Initially surprised but not displeased, she still reached her arms around his neck only to have Itachi pull away.

"Let's eat, then" He said casually, picked up their plates and headed to the table.

Hinata didn't have to see his face then either to know that he was very pleased with himself. "I hate you!"

"No, you don't"

The bluette put her own rather cold hands – though not as cold as Itachi's, his felt like they were made out of actual ice – on her flaming cheeks. "You're lucky I don't" She huffed as they both sat down at the table.

"Aren't I, too" Itachi smiled across from her, and it was in moments like these she was beyond grateful to have him, he was truly the sunlight rising up after a long, cold, and dark night.

It had been over two weeks since Kurenai's death, and in the beginning she thought that she would never get over it, and she didn't entirely. Although she had lost a lot of colleagues on the job she knew all that would really help her get over it was catching the bastard who did it. However, she realized, it'd be a damn shame if she'd have to do it without him.

* * *

Hinata stared blankly at the ceiling of the Homicide department, absentmindedly chewing on her thumb. There have been a lot of things on her mind, and not those she'd prefer. Most of it concerned her past, which was understandable, since she had a new dream about it almost every night, albeit one was more frequent than other s – for unknown to her reasons – they all ended the same way – with her hands covered in 'd gotten over that part since she knew, that's the least of the things that'd she would want to get to her.

Hinata remembered how she was convinced for a whole year that she killed her friend in cold blood until her therapist realized she needed more than just a talk with him, and sent her to a psychiatrist that also thought she was schizophrenic for a while until she was diagnosed with-

"You know you always look ike you're in your own world but you seem especially distracted for the past week."

"Hm?" Hinata's white eyes darted over to meet blue ones, or one since Ino's right eye was covered by her long bangs. The blonde' words seemed to finally reach Hinata's floor. "I'm always in my head, because that's my job," The bluette explained, sighing she said down the pen she was supposed to use if any new ideas decided to show up, no such luck.

"But there's been things bothering me for a while, and that's never happened, I mean not for a long time, anyway." Not since she became a cop, and surely not with things that were completely irrelevant to the case she was working. Anything that was case-related could stay rent-free in her head and bother her all-day long until said case was closed, and anything other that didn't usually get such easy access to her attention.

"Is it bothering you too much? Maybe you need something to you need a distraction or something?" Ino suggested as she dropped herself in Itachi's chair across from the bluette.

At the blonde's mention of a distraction all she could think about was her partner, he was the best kind of distraction, he could take her mind off of anything and usually it wasn't such a good thing. Hinata sighed, maybe they should do a back and forth of ideas since her brain didn't want to play along.

The agent's eyes came in focus as a perfectly manicured pair hand waved itself in front of her face. "You're doing it at again!"

Hinata blushed and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry, it's just something that happens," Dissociation was far from a foreign concept to her, it always happened when- Hinata shook her head lightly, she was doing it, yet again. She looked to the clock and saw that it was already lunch-time so she started gathering her things.

Confused by her actions Ino also noticed the time after which she got up and smiled at her. "Wanna grab some lunch?"

Hinata gave her an apologetic smile, "Sorry, I'm going with Itachi, maybe another time?" she quickly added when the blonde's grin faded.

She tried to ignore the disappointment in the others face, before she quickly smiled again as if to mask it. "Okay, sure! See you later!"

The bluette started at the other's retreating back as her long hair swung from side to side. She felt bad for blowing off someone who considered her a friend like that, but it wasn't in her nature to make friends. She could count the people she trusted and considered friends on one hand. She shook her head and pushed away the bitter feeling and swiftly gathered her things before leaving the building.

* * *

"What's this supposed to be?"

Hinata looked back and forth between Itachi who was sitting across from her, a wooden table the only thing separating them, and the strange small piece of paper he just handed her, it had a red smudge that now represented only vaguely what it did before.

"Evidence, I guess." He muttered under his breath and laid back in the armchair he occupied. He had visited Asuma since he finally found time again to meet, the man had given him a couple of Kurenai's things that he thought might help them with their case, per Itachi's request. After which the two agents met up at a cafe to have lunch and discuss the evidence.

Hinata raised an arched eyebrow at him."No, I mean what is it?" Her partner had handed it to her as if it meant something and she really couldn't figure out what it was.

"Did they transfer you into Homicide right after you graduated or something?" He asked rhetorically, the corner of his mouth twitching in a smile.

The bluette let the paper fall onto the table and fell back in her chair, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Now, what's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Itachi sat up again and picked up the piece of paper with his middle and fore fingers. "This is a bag from a drug. Judging by the fact it can't contain much I'd say it was done type of heroin."

Hinata tilted her head to the side and looked more closely at the paper. She never really had much experience with drugs on the force, not in the bureau either, she wasn't particularly good at it. Itachi worked in the vice squad before he was transferred to Homicide so she wasn't surprised by his knowledge on the subject. "So this is from the drug cartel. Why are you showing me this? I thought we were investigating the Bishop Killer."

"Oh come on, Hinata. You must have thought that they're connected somehow, in fact I'm almost certain that thought passed through your head more than once"

Hinata chewed on her lip still considering the offending piece of processed wood. "Well, yeah I did, but this could be a wild goose chase for all we know and we don't have time for that, Itachi!"

Her partner dropped the paper and crossed his arms much like her and looked out of the window, Hinata could sense the stubbornness almost radiating from him, a rare sight since they were both so spoiled from agreeing with each other all the time, seldom did they ever disagree and when they did they just became very hardheaded.

After a moment of silence Itachi sighed but didn't seem like he had given up on his theory. "Listen, Hinata there's no mention of him in Kurenai's notes so I think she really just found him by accident."

Hinata huffed and started considering it, she really wasn't opposed to the idea of the drug cartel having a connection with the Bishop Killer, she was more on the fence about it. But she was scared it would lead to nothing, that's why she pushed it away. It was nagging at her, but everything seemed to these days.

"Okay," The bluette started leaning back onto the table on still crossed arms. "Let's suppose I played with the idea that this protege character is tied to the cartel somehow." She said as her hand played with the spoon in her tea.

Itachi hummed in thought. "That's an idea. You got any other theories?"

Hinata shook her head in response. "I'm sorry, it's just my head's been full of this nightmare business and I can't think properly." Her partner looked at her considering her words.

"I can't imagine it being fun holding all that in. Why don't you tell me about it," He suggested also leaning forward on the table.

Hinata let out a sarcastic laugh. "What are you my therapist now?" At his unchanged and serious expression she understood he wasn't kidding and he didn't find it funny.

"I don't want to let this mess with your head, Hinata-"

"Let it mess with both our heads then, huh?" When Itachi didn't say anything she sighed and proceeded to remember her most recent and frequent nightmare.

"It was the funeral. I had to be accompanied by a social worker or something because they were afraid I'd go crazy like when they found me. Good thing I didn't." She reached for her cup of tea and took a sip, to stall even for a little bit.

"Then her dad came up to me-

" _You must be my daughter's roommate, Hinata, right?" The man asked, he was tall probably in his forties, his voice was husky and low, muffled by the black mask he was wearing over his face leaving only the bridge of his nose and green bloodshot eyes in sight._

 _Hinata nodded her head hesitantly and took the gloved hand he had extended. Hinata knew he was a doctor, a surgeon to be exact, but were all doctors so conscious of hygiene? Probably, and maybe even she would of she saw enough people die from diseases that spread through air and touch,_

" _Well, my name is-_

"And that's where it cut off and drifted into me killing his daughter." She finished surprisingly calmly. Her white eyes focused on Itachi but he wasn't looking at her anymore instead he was frowning down at the table.

"So you can't remember his name?" He asked though it barely sounded like a question.

Hinata raised an eyebrow at him"No, is that supposed to be relevant somehow?"

Itachi was quiet for a few minutes and Hinata knew better than to interrupt, he was thinking about something, about what she had no idea."Okay this might sound crazy, but you know how I studied dreaming and stuff like that," Hinata remembered him mentioning it and nodded at which he continued talking. "Well what if her dad was the one that-"

"Killed her?" Hinata almost shrieked completely outraged, gained them a couple of looks from the nearby table. "That's not crazy Itachi, that's insane!" She tried to keep her voice down this time angrily whispering at the man in front of her.

Itachi clicked his tongue at her behavior, the idea wasn't even that outrageous, he knew the real reason for her actions and overall impatience were because of Kurenai's death, plus the nightmares did not take the edge off at all. "No Hinata, it isn't." He told her firmly. "When a woman or a girl dies there's at least a eighteen percent chance of it being the father, nineteen of it being the mother, but-"

"Fū's mother died when she was little," Hinata said absentmindedly, eyes wide in disbelief.

"That's right, and as you know "it's always the husband" didn't come out of thin air and sexism there's a what percent chance of it being the significant other?"

"Fifty five."

Itachi hummed in agreement, glad that they were on the same boat for what felt like the first time these couple of weeks. "Now that we've established how not insane my idea is, can I explain how I didn't just make this up?" Hinata smiled apologetically, but gave a snow nod for him to continue.

"The simple way to explain this is, his name wl, your brain is unconsciously connecting the two somehow." He explained then she almost saw a I light bulb light up above his head as an idea entered it, he reached for the pen in his breast pocket and a napkin. "This one , I might just be making up but, how is Fū's name spelled?"

Hinata furrowed her brows in confusion. "Shimizu Fū, spring water, seal"

Itachi nodded his head writing down the name in kanji and counting something under his breath. When he finished he just glared at the napkin. "How many times was she stabbed again?"

Dark blue brows furrowed because, where was Itachi going with this? "Twenty-four,"

Itachi's eyes closed and eyebrows dropped. "Like I said this is might actually be crazy and I might be pulling this out of things air, but if you don't do it who will?" He passed her the napkin and pointed down at the kanji with his pen. "There's twenty-four strokes in her name,"

"Uh-huh, that's a fact so I guess that's not what you're pulling out of your read end?" She asked curiously.

Itachi sighed, the absurdity of his own theory seemed to catch up to him. "Forget about it, I'll just call Kakashi to look into this Mr. Shimizu character."

" _Well my name is Shimizu Kakuzu, you can call me doctor of mister Shimizu, either way it's nice to finally meet you."_

Hinata felt a splitting headache coming on, it hit a little harder then the realization of Itachi's words and her brief flashback. Her hands gripped the table in an effort to keep her body from collapsing. When her eyes finally found Itachi's, he realized what was going on. The last thing she saw was her fiance reaching for his phone before her own head became too heavy to hold up.

* * *

 _ **A/n:**_ I was kidding in the first author's note, I don't think y'all don't care for the plot, is just that some asked for it and I was in a giving mood.

Irrelevant update: my phone is still busted and I have no idea when it won't be any more

Also I'm sorry this chapter is shorter (only 2,9k words) but I seldom have control over how long my chapters are and where they stop, i sit down and write whatever the heck, and stop when it feels right. Like I was going to have Hinata hold that memory for a while (at least one more chapter) but my brain was like, "nah, let her remember now, it feels _right"_

Something I'd like y'all to note:  
1) if you think this story is bad: _**REVIEW**_ to let me know me know before I make it worse  
2) if you think this story is good: _**REVIEW**_ to make me feel all warm and fuzzy, and to make me think about you for at least a week.  
3) i've posted some more sketches on my Tumblr, I only do traditional art (I don't have a pc or laptop, do you think I have a graphic board? Think again, lmaooo I'm broke af fam) and one for this chapter (hinata's outfit, and Hinata in the cafe)

tagged/ghost-art

See ya next week (hopefully)


	7. Chapter 7: How To Put 2&2 Together

**Chapter 7: How To Put Two and Two Together**

* * *

Sasuke spared an anxious glance at his rear view mirror. Itachi sat there in the back seat of his car with the blue haired woman lying in his lap, she was unconscious and paler than usual. "Hold on tight," was the only warning he gave his brother before making an abrupt turn. He had already turned on the lights and sirens so that they could pass quicker in the traffic.

"Are you sure we shouldn't get her to a hospital?" He suggested only to receive a glare from his brother in the mirror.

"Drive." He ordered before focusing onto the woman in his arms.

Sasuke only sighed and gave his full attention to the road ahead of him. He was still really confused, Itachi had called him ten minutes ago telling him to come as quickly as he could with his car to the cafe not far from the police station. When he arrived he noticed that his brother, more irritated than he'd ever seen him in his life with the unconscious woman in his arms and another one – probably a worker from the cafe – threatening to call the police and something about drugging the "poor lady". Thankfully Sasuke had his badge with him, and the woman stopped bothering his brother after he showed it to her. That didn't seem to make Itachi less mad since now, five minutes later he still looked very much so.

Finally he pulled up in the parking lot of the apartment building the two lived in. Exiting the car he swiftly walked over to open the door for his brother. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on one's intentions, none of the staff asked any questions as they made their way to the elevator with an unconscious, maybe even dead for all they knew, woman on their hands. Sasuke hoped they just knew who his brother and his companion were, and in cases other than this one they actually did their job.

Since Itachi's hands were quite full, the younger Uchiha opened the door with the spare key he had given him, after which the older stormed in, still mindful not to get his fiance get hit by something like door frames.

Not knowing what to do and not particularly yearning to be glared at by his brother again, Sasuke just made his way over to the living room and threw himself onto the biggest couch. After some thinking he decided to send Ino a list of things he needed to do today since he might not make it back to the police station. Usually he'd tell Shikamaru to handle it but most of it was paperwork and he knew his second in command would rather kill himself then do more paperwork that he was assigned.

 **I'm not your secretary - Det. Yamanaka**

Sasuke sighed as he read the text, it didn't mean she wouldn't do it, it just meant he was going to get an earful tomorrow.

After a couple of minutes Itachi walked into the room completely ignoring him. The older male silently walked over to a wooden cabinet and pulled out a glass bottle of transparent goldish brown liquid and two glasses. Making his way over to where Sasuke was sitting up from his previously lying position, he set the two glasses down and started pouring the liquid out of the bottle.

"You know, unless that's slightly apple juice I'm not drinking it" Sasuke told him but he just raised a questioning eyebrow without even looking at him. "I'm my only designated driver for today, so I'll pass"

Itachi took a swig before he eyed the remaining liquid in his glass. "You can sleep here, we have a guest room. And besides," He finally met the younger's eyes. "Why else would you stay here and wait if not to comfort your older brother?"

Choosing not to answer the question, which didn't matter since it was rhetorical anyway, he instead reached for the glass and took a drink. Scotch. "Is this a problem? Sound I be worried?" He vaguely moved the glass in his hand.

Itachi ruined his eyes and sat down in an armchair sis from him."I'm not an alcoholic, little brother, if that's what you're implying."

They both took advantage of the brief silence in order to take another drink from their glasses.

"So, how is she?" Even though the younger was hardly concerned for the woman's well being, he did think that maybe his brother wanted to talk about it.

"She's fine," He muttered in response.

Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed at his answer. "You don't look like she's fine."

Itachi exhaled a small unamused laugh. "She's just tired, she hasn't been getting enough sleep lately."

"Did she faint from fatigue?"

Itachi nodded and finally drowned the last of his drink. "And shock, it's hard to explain what kind of person she is and I don't want to do it because she'll get mad at me. But all I can tell you is that she remembered something that shocked her into fainting." At Sasuke's questioning expression he continued. "She doesn't trust you, don't take it personally, she barely trusts anybody."

Sasuke didn't bother to be offended, after all he far from trusted her himself, which brought him to another thought. "She seems like whole lot of problems"

The older man clicked his tongue and laid back into his armchair after putting the glass down onto the coffee table. "If she couldn't convince me not to be with her, I doubt you can, little brother"

"She tried breaking up with, and you're still together? When?"

Itachi sighed, massaging his temples. "She didn't try to break up with me, she tried to convince it was a bad idea for us to be together in the first place."

Sasuke tried to make sense of his words, then he remembered the brief conversation he had with the agent a week ago,

" _We're more alike than I'd like to admit."_

* * *

Hinata woke up, the lack of a nightmare besides being quite a shock, was also a disappointment. Apparently her brain was helping her solve a big puzzle, but after it gave her the piece she didn't even know she'd lost, it completely jumbled up the almost complete puzzle and threw in another set of jumbled puzzle pieces in the mix, and with no apparent intention of helping her this time.

Glad she didn't have a headache she stood from the bed, vaguely registering the fact that there was no light coming out of the window and that it was already nighttime. Making her way over to the kitchen to get a glass of water she noticed two not unfamiliar men passed out on the living-room couches. Sighing she continued on her way to her original destination, now grabbing two glasses of water and some aspirin for the two brothers.

The clunky unavoidable sound of placing glasses on a glass table woke Itachi up. He immediately clutched his forehead before he noticed a pill and a glass of water in front of his face, both in a familiar pair of pale hands. "You're awake,"

Hinata couldn't help but roll her eyes at his statement of the obvious. "Yes and you're hungover," She took back the glass after he'd taken the medicine and placed it back on the table. Turning back at him she sat down on the armrest of the armchair he occupied, she checked for a fever which he thankfully did not have, but didn't retract her palms from his face, instead she let her thumbs rub his cheeks as her worried eyes searched his.

"I'm sorry," Her voice cracked slightly, but her fiance only shushed her gently and pulled her closer until she was sitting in his lap.

"You've got nothing to be sorry about, gekkō." He tried to convince her but the fact that her partner found consolidation in alcohol because of _her_ mental problems was staring back at her and flaunting it's ugly tail. Itachi was always her rock, the wall that always protected her, yet here was her wall – falling, and not because of outside damage.

"Don't you guys have a room where you could do that?" They both turned to look at the other Uchiha, slowly pushing himself up in a sitting position with one hand, and clutching his probably throbbing head with the other. "You know, to spare me from long term psychological trauma."

Albeit unintentionally the sergeant reminded Hinata of her most vivid memory before she had passed out. "You were right," She muttered making Itachi look up at her.

"Yeah, I figured. But how'd you figure that out?"

A sigh. "His name is Shimizu Kakuzu, kind of hard to miss that,"

Sasuke who had been barely keeping up with the conversion, swallowed the white pill once it was in sight. However, the last thing she mentioned made him snap his heart towards them, he groaned in pain from the sudden movement. "Kaku- you mean bishop? Did you find him?"

Hinata scoffed and rolled her eyes at him. "Find your patience before I lose mine, sergeant."

"Oh please the way you're talking I'm willing to bet you've never had one in the first place!"He snapped back.

"Sasuke,"

The younger Uchiha turned to look at his brother, who'd been the one to utter his name in such a warning tone. "Why are you on her side? She started it!" He pointed accusingly at the woman in his lap.

Itachi sighed loudly, "I don't care who started it-" he was interrupted by Hinata mocking display of her tongue in Sasuke's direction, who in turn looked plain scandalous. "I think you're _both_ acting like pre-schoolers,"

At his scolding voice the two simultaneously crossed their arms in front of each other. "Can we get to what actually matters? Like the case." He asked frustrated, before he adjusted his sitting position making Hinata lose her balance and in turn wrap her arms around his neck. Itachi's annoyed expression turned into an amused one as he smirked down at her, "You okay, gekkō?"

Hinata blushed lightly, how he managed to make her feel like just by looking at her after years of being together was beyond her. "Sure thing, nikk-"

"Gah!" She was interrupted by Sasuke's loud imitation of a gag. "Like I said, long term psychological trauma, get a room."

Hinata glared at him, hoping that eventually her eyes would send dagger flying at him. "We will, what about this one?" As if to make a point lowered her head down to her fiance's before placing her lips over his. Itachi looked like a shocked fish with his eyes blinking up at the bluette and his cheeks squished between her hands. Hinata raised her head only to stare icily at the younger yet still as shocked male in the room. "You go get a brain while we're at it."

She was about to go back to continue with she started with Itachi, except this time his hands on her shoulders stopped her. "We can deal with that later, now we have more important matters to discuss" He tried to sound detached and professional but he barely managed to do so, it had been awhile since his fiancee pulled a stunt like that, he could almost feel her tongue-

Sasuke clenched his jaw glaring back at the white eyed woman, did she really have to go as far as to _assault_ his brother right in front of him, future sister-in-law or not she was still crazy in his eyes. However, despite their differences he still had to work with her, so he averted his eyes knowing that meant he had lost the unannounced staring contest between them. "What's up with the Bishop Killer case, anything new?" He addressed Itachi.

The older male nodded thoughtfully as one of his hands found itself in silky midnight hair absentmindedly playing with it. "Yes," He shared a look with Hinata that told them both of their own uncertainties. "A name possibly. Tell someone to run through your database,"

At another glance sent her way Hinata spoke. "Shimizu Kakuzu, I have no idea if he used his name or not when he got here – if we're right about this – but he must be in his fifties by now," She rubbed Itachi's nape, successfully grabbing his attention. "Call Kakashi first thing in the morning, alright"

"Mhm," He hummed leaning his head back into her hand smiling sleepily making her lips curl upwards as well. She spared a glance in Sasuke's direction not being able to ignore his air of irritation. "Guest room's down the hall to the left," Annoyed but too tired to argue the younger Uchiha left to the room she said, leaving the two in silence before Hinata dragged a sleepy Itachi to bed.

Unable to fall asleep Hinata stayed up all night in bed with her fiance, but with her laptop in her lap. She was in the FBI database analysing cases of murders that were known to be committed by the Bishop Killer. Photos, reports, and profiles – all that she compared to those from her friend's death. Hoping that she'd come to the conclusion that they weren't connected, but with every report she read she saw more and more connections.

Itachi had mentioned that Fuu's name had twenty four strokes just like the amount of stab wounds she had taken to the chest, something she had never thought about, maybe she would have if she'd considered the case after she became a detective. But she didn't, she couldn't, a year of nightmares had been enough is what she thought at the time, as much as it hurt her she wanted to move on.

A quiet ding from the device in her lap snapped her out of her musings and made Itachi stir in his sleep, he rolled over now facing her before wrapping his arms around her waist and moving closer to her, his head under her right arm. Hinata couldn't help the giggle that escaped her, so she sacrificed her right hand to gently untie his hair in order to bury her hand in it, satisfied with the relaxed smile that lighted up his features like sunlight.

After admiring the sleeping man for enough time that it would be considered creepy if they didn't plan on marrying each other, she focused her attention on the email that had been sent to her. It was profile on one Kakuzu Shimizu that she requested from the TMPD as soon as she "went to bed". There was no photo attached, no criminal record. There was however, an address – no apartment number so it was a house. She looked at the time, it was quarter past six, two more hours until the two Uchihas woke up.

Turning back to look the man sleeping next to her, she considered her options. On one hand, Hinata knew Itachi would be beyond mad if she left alone to an alleged killer's house, on the other hand it was really unlikely that it was the same person whom they were looking for. And Itachi – he was way too worried for his own good, he'd want to follow procedure and if they were right about this then there was no time to lose.

Making up her mind she closed her laptop and carefully removed her fiancé's hand from her waist before leaving the bed.

 **Author's note:** [commercial narrator voice]: What did Hinata choose? Find out on the next episode of How To Catch a Crime Syndicate!  
Okay this chapter is especially short but again, I can't really control that.

I've answered some reviews from the last chapter on my Tumblr page (link in profile). I would encourage everyone to read it(especially whitegems and sousoulovehinta) because I talked about some things that more people are curious about like plans for this fic concerning rating, Sasuke and Hinata's "complicated" relationship, about my writing and where I know this story is lacking and why it is.

Okay so about my tumblr inbox, i haven't had this particular blog for a long time, and me and my cretin self forgot that the inbox is off by default until you turn it on, so I'm sorry for that. Now you can send me asks if you'd like.

I half assed my grammar check so I acknowledge that this chapter might have more mistakes that usual.  
I guess that's all, see you next week!


	8. Chapter 8: How To Recognize a Mistake

**Chapter 8: How To Recognize a Mistake**

* * *

Rays of sunlight peeked through the blinds successfully waking Itachi up from his slumber. Sitting up the first thing he noticed when he opened his eyes was that his hair was all in his face, his lips curled up into a smile, Hinata loved to play with his hair, and he enjoyed it just as much when she did it. However, she wasn't in bed with him now, that was the second thing he noticed. She hadn't woken up – or gotten out of bed rather – before him ever since they came to Japan. He blamed it on jet lag at first, then there were other reasons for her complex sleeping patterns.

Pulling himself out of bed he did his usual morning exercise. It had taken him a moment to realize that the apartment was eerily quiet, he'd thought Hinata was in the kitchen or bathroom except she would have made a sound by now.

"Hinata?" No response. Grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat from his brow he made his way to the living-room. "Gekkō?" He called out once again, this time there wasn't complete silence because he heard a sound of a door open behind him

Briefly relieved he swiftly turned around only to have worry wash over him again as he watched his brother exit the guest room.

"Hinata isn't home."

"Good morning to you too," Sasuke replied before stifling a yawn with his palm. Upon noticing his brother's distraught expression he put away his irritation for the missing agent. "Are you sure she didn't go out for groceries or something?"

Shaking himself out of his own distress Itachi sighed, there was no need to needlessly worry about things. He could just call her.

* * *

"Your stop, miss"

Upon the cab driver's announcement Hinata looked at the map on her phone, it did indeed tell that she was at the requested location. She paid the driver and gave her gratitude, beforeas she exited the car she felt her phone vibrate in her hand. Looking at the caller ID she took a deep breath and swiped to answer the call.

"Hey, good morning, how are you?" She immediately blurted out in one breath, voice shaking slightly from the forced tone of calm.

Itachi however, ignored her attempt of an alternate subject. "Where are you?"

Hinata sighed, she hoped she'd be back before he woke up but she severely underestimated the distance and the time it took to get here. There was no use hiding it anyway. She sighed "I'm-" before she could continue, something strange caught her attention effectively making her lose her train of thought, there had been movement coming from outside the house. Like clockwork, her hand fell on the handle of her handgun that was strapped to her belt. "-sorry I left alone, I just didn't think it would be dangerous."

"Hinata, where _are_ you?" He tried again, this time it came out as an order.

The agent was only half listening to her fiance as she slowly made her way over to the side of the house, where she was sure she saw the movement."Take the address from your brother and get over here." Her white eyes shifted from right to left, scanning everything they feel upon. "Get a warrant, just in case," was the last thing she told him before turning off the call.

With her now free hand, she firmly gripped the base of the gun for better leverage. "Mr. Shimizu, I'm with the FBI." She swallowed a lump in her throat realizing how nervous she was. "I need to ask you a few questions!" It was only a longshot when she was in the safety of her home, but now that she was here the possibility of what happened to Kurenai happening to her seemed far more likely.

A cracking noise, like a branch being stepped on, made her look down where she saw said branch under her foot. Something else caught her attention, a small square, crouching down to look more closely at it she noticed it was a piece of wood. Her pale hand left the gun in order to pick up the strange object.

Her white eyes widened in shock once she flipped the square in her hand, she looked at the _kakaguya_ symbol of the shoji piece in her hand. In her panic, she quickly reached for the phone in her pocket. Itachi needed to know that she was wrong, that she was stupid to come here alone, that she was nothing without him, that- As thoughts of panic flooded her mind she'd been too distracted to notice a shadow looming over from behind.

Before her hand could get a better grip on her gun or before she could even turn around she felt a stinging pain on the back of her neck making her body stop rigid in its tracks. Her fight or flight chose the latter but her body wouldn't move in the slightest. She wanted to fight but her fingers helplessly loosened around the handle of the firearm and her pale orbs rolled to the back of her head before her body hit the ground like a ragdoll.

* * *

The two Uchiha brother's had just made it to the police department, the younger had been trying to calm the older male down on the way there, although he appeared call poised on the outside his blank stare told Sasuke otherwise. He tried rationalizing the situation, but Itachi was directly involved and anything rational and logical regarding the situation had to go through the emotional barrier first, and his brother cared too deeply for the woman to let go of his personal feelings and actually think rather than mentally destroy himself.

Sasuke followed his brother as he stormed out of the elevator directly to lieutenant's office. "I need a warrant to search the house of and question one Shimizu Kakuzu," He ordered rather than asked, ignoring his younger brother's frown directed at the back of his head.

"We don't even know if that's necessary. Let my team handle the investigation, sit this one out," He tried to reason but Itachi simply ignored him further. The lieutenant looked from one Uchiha to the other questioningly. Sasuke sighed and decided to address his Superior since his brother wasn't listening. "Lieutenant Tenzo, my brother is personally involved in the investigation, he is biased and irațional, it would be a conflict of interest to let him-"

"My partner left to the alleged killer's house on her own, she hasn't been picking up her phone for half an hour. If you do the math, Tenzō then you can see that: We. Need. A. Warrant." Itachi protested, somehow managing to keep his voice leveled but not caring enough to address the person he was talking to with proper formalities. "Is that rational enough for you?"

The older man's eyes shifted between the two brothers before releasing a sigh. "I'll get the warrant as fast as I can. You two try to work out a strategy." He informed them calmly before muttering a "dismissed" as he picked up the phone.

Sasuke was not pleased with Tenzō's decision at all, his brother was not in his right mind, a warrant wasn't actually a bad idea, but he was worried about other rash decisions he might take, and the lieutenant was only needlessly enabling him. Frustrated, he ran a hand through his hair before letting it rest on the back of his neck.

"Why are you wearing the same clothes as yesterday?"

Sasuke turned around at the voice of the lazy detective, spotting both Shikamaru and his blonde partner beside him. The two were looking at him with equally smug expressions. He sensed that he was about to get his payback for making Ino do his job yesterday because she was looking especially amused. "He's in a worse mood than usual."

Shikamaru chuckled lightly. "Doesn't look like he got any."

The blonde furrowed her brows together and put her finger on her lower lip in a parody of a thinking pose. "Interesting, I thought Dr. Haruno was no stranger to putting out." She muttered pretending to be talking to herself.

Usually, Sasuke would usually humor them and himself with a circle of generally harmless bad-mouthing, because how else could the homicide squad entertain itself. However, Itachi's detached expression kept him from doing so. He let his eyes fall on the blonde detective who's smirk immediately dropped. "Your girlfriend is missing," He said matter-of-factly.

Ino's blue eyes widened at his words and instinctively her eyes went to her friend's fiance but the look on his face did nothing but disprove the fact that the sergeant was simply screwing with her. "What happened?" She demanded, trying not to be emotional.

Once again Sasuke ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Well to put it in simple words, she was being stupid," Ignoring the glare sent his way by his brother, the homicide sergeant made his way over to his desk, with the blonde still – annoyingly so – on his tail. Frustrated he turned around startling her into taking a step back "She went to a murderer's house without backup, now lay off my back."

Ino chose to do the opposite of that and sat across from him at his desk. "We need to do something!" She exclaimed when the man simply ignored her presence. "Why aren't we doing something?"

"Calm down, Yamanaka," Sasuke snapped effectivity starting her. "Lieutenant is on it right no-"

"Uchiha!"

At the sudden sound of his name Sasuke and – he noticed from his peripheral vision – Itachi turned around to see the lieutenant standing at the foot of his office door. Noticing his brief mistake the man's eyes focused on the older brother. "Get on it,"

That was all the confirmation Itachi needed, he grabbed his jacket and was about to leave the department until he noticed his brother hadn't moved from his spot. "Sasuke? I'll need the ride."

The younger Uchiha barely heard him as he looked at the lab reports in front of him. He shook his head, trying to focus. "Nara, Yamanaka, go with him, I have something I need to take care of." He ordered and tried not to feel guilty from the look of disappointment his brother gave him before the three left with no further questions.

Sasuke, in turn, went for a visit to the forensic department, with newly found questions. Still looking into the report, too deep in thought to look under his own feet, resulting in him bumping into someone in the narrow hallway. About to start telling the person off for not watching where they were going, he noticed it was his pink haired girlfriend.

Upon noticing her boyfriend sure grinned widely. "Hi, darling!" The pinkette exclaimed jumping on her tiptoes to hug the much taller man around the neck. "I missed you, where were you tonight?"

Sasuke could almost hear the pout in her voice. "I slept at Itachi's," He muttered reciprocating the embrace with the one arm that wasn't occupied. "Sorry, didn't want to wake you, it was late."

The medical examiner leaned back and placed her palms on his face "It's okay!" She said still smiling at him widely.

He smirked down at her "Didn't miss me that much though, you seem in a good mood."

The young woman's grin widened before she leaned in to place a kiss on his lips. "Things are just going smoothly today."

"I'm glad they are for you at leasr," He responded genuinely glad her day was going well, before kissing her back.

"Hey lovebirds, you're sorta in the way!" He recognized that voice, as he did with most people in homicide, the voice belonged the red-haired blood spatter analyst.

The pinkette blushed but gave him a short peck on the lips before disappearing behind him. He turned to the other lab-coat-wearing woman in the department. "Is Aburame in?"

She placed her hands on her hips, obviously not in the mood to be ordered around, but not enough to risk losing her job by snapping at him. "He's in his office." Then her crimson eyes fell on the file in his hand, and a gleeful smile appeared on her face "Is something wrong with his report," the idea of the lead forensics examiner and her boss being wrong seemed to amuse her out of her attitude, to the point that she actually snickered.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at her childish behavior and never disappearing mood-swings. "No, it's just a theory I have on the case about the Bishop Killer case,"

"Boring," Karin said with a fake yawn before leaving in the same direction as the pinkette.

When Sasuke entered the office he saw the man at his lab desk with his back to him, doing some tests probably, so he cleared his throat to get his attention. The forensic examiner turned around in his spinning chair and raised an eyebrow at him. "About your report on that agent that was killed-"

"What about it?" Shino asked as he adjusted his black sunglasses enough for Sasuke to notice he was frowning.

"Here's the thing…"

* * *

Hinata groaned. Her headache was relentless. She wanted to rub her temples. But when she attempted to reach for her head, she noticed that her hands were restrained. In a flash her most recent memories came back to her. She had been dosed with a sedative, rendering her unconscious, she must have hit Her head on the ground after the fall, hence the affliction.

Although her vision was slightly blurry, her eyes still explored the large room, because of it's size and the material it was just made of – wood – she came to conclusion of it being a basement or a shed. She also noticed that there were a lot of tools, though she couldn't make out what kind, all she could see was them reflecting the dim light of the place. Her eyes traveled to the right where she was a bed, not a simple one, but the kind you'd use in an operation room. And then she understood that the room was supposed to substitute for an OR although it had more resemblance to a morgue.

Hinata shook her head to get rid of the ringing in her ears which thankfully worked but at not without making her more dizzy. Footsteps could be heard from above her, she couldn't make out the number of people on account of her inability to focus any of her senses, but it must have been more than one person there. They were talking, although she could only hear one voice low and strangely familiar, the other she couldn't hear at all. Hinata would think there was only one person above her if it weren't for the pauses in the person's speech, indicating that there was a two way conversation going on.

She jumped when she heard the sound of footsteps grow louder as if they were right above her. Then they died out getting further away before the sound started coming from somewhere else, once again louder. Hinata's eyes followed it before they fell on the door to the far left.

Whoever it was in house, friend or foe they were getting closer and they were about to enter the morgue like room. As the door knob turned Hinata hoped for the former, wishing that maybe Itachi had gotten there in time.

* * *

The impromptu three man squad had just made it to the ond address that was in the database for the name of their sole suspect, there wasn't much information on the man which meant no criminal record – as far as the police knew anyway. The house they pulled up to looked old and shabby in the neighborhood of ones that looked more than decent.

Itachi didn't want to lose any time so he swiftly left the vehicle and made his way over to the building, before the two detectives followed him. He rang the doorbell although he didn't want to do so, all he wanted to do was find his fiance and make sure she was safe.

"Okay, obviously no one's gonna answer-"

The agent spared a side glance to the blonde woman. "We're not leaving without Hinata,"

Ino rolled her eyes. "Not what I meant," She told him gesturing for him to get out of the way. Thinking that she was going to pick the lock he complied and moved, so it came as a big shock when-

 _ **BANG!**_

-the woman slammed her foot on the door effectively breaking the lock and hinges holding it to the frame and making it fall on the other side of the wall. "You're not the only one that cares about her" The blonde said earnestly, to which Itachi nodded in acknowledgement, before the three entered the house.

Taking his gun out from it's holder on his belt, he held it down to his thigh with both his hands on the handle. He turned to the dark haired man who took the cue and took out his own firearm with the blonde following suite.

"I'll take this floor," Shikamaru whispered, low enough for it to be considered to be mere mouthing of the words. "Ino, you go to the second floor. Agent Uchiha-"

"I'll take the basement," The two men nodded in agreement before all three scattered around the house.

Itachi didn't bother moving quietly or stealthily since the blonde's entrance ruined any element of surprise they might have held before that. Finally he noticed a door that led to a stairway downwards and eventually to to the basement. As he descended down the steps he took in a deep breath and raised his gun at shoulder level.

" _Please be okay."_

* * *

 **A/N:** this chapter was going to be twice as long but I didn't have motivation due to lack of reviews (I know… how shallow of me) so now I'm holding the next chapter hostage unless this binch doesn't meet the reviews per chapter quota! Lmao bye!

I changed the summary btw, I was never happy with the previous one but I couldn't come up with anything better, I hope the current one's alright

something I've been meaning to find out is if you guys have an opinion on the names of my story and chapters, honestly I've never done this before so idk if the names suit them or if the "how to" is necessary I just thought it was different so it drew me.. at first it was going to have "a series of organized crimes" and every chapter name was going to start with "a series of" but I didn't want to rip off from the obvious.


	9. Chapter 9: How To Stay Alive

**Chapter 9: How to Stay Alive**

* * *

 **A/n:** no notes at the end of this chapter bc I didn't want to ruin the moment!

I forgot to say this on ch8 but I'm sorry for the sasusaku moment, i feel bad that I made you read that, but you can imagine how hard it was for me ?I was the one writing it!

 **Me:** *typing Sakura calling Sasuke "darling"*

 **Also me:** *gags"

I'm pleasantly surprised that none of you caught on how this was gonna go down though. I thought myself as very predictable bc some of you called some stuff before it even happened, but I guess I still hold the element of surprise ;)

Next chapter is the last one! I was going to upload it in a couple of days bc I don't wanna leave y'all on a cliffhanger but idk, maybe from lack of inspiration I didn't add much to it since last week :/ it might be because another fic idea is in my head that keeps distracting me

Shockingly the change of the summary worked bc the number of daily views (a couple of days after I posted the chapter) must have tripled… The number of reviews however _did_ _ **not**_

Anyways…. enjoy and don't forget to review (y'all met the quota this time but you're still walking on thin ice)

* * *

Itachi stared in silence around the completely empty basement he stood it. He looked for a clue maybe a secret entrance deeper into the ground but found nothing. The two detectives already confirmed the other floors as clear, but he was still perplexed and anxious. ' _If Hinata isn't here than where is she?'_

 _ **BAM!**_

At the sudden crashing noise coming from upstairs the agent left the basement to check on his temporary colleagues. When he did get on the ground floor he found the male detective restraining a younger man with his knee on the other'a back, forcing the man's wrists into handcuffs behind him. At the same time the blonde detective came down from the second floor.

"What are you doing in my house!"

Itachi frowned at that but didn't say anything as he watched the other two to pick him off the ground and recite him his rights. However something didn't sit well with him so he approached them and addressed the young man. "State your name," The older man ordered with a scrutinizing stare.

He looked up at the federal agent with wide eyes, stopping from his ranting and flailing, feeling threatened by the older man's emanation alone. "Shimizu Kakuzu, sir"

The Uchiha's brows knitted together as he observes the man, who was no further in life than his early twenties. "Is this your property?" At his nod, Itachi's frown deepened. "The man me and Hinata suspect for the murder is over fifty years old. This is not our guy,"

While Shikamaru let go of the young man Ino refused to do so. "But she went missing after she _went to_ _his house!_ And there isn't another Kakuzu Shimizu!" She protested loudly her grip tightening on the young adult's arm making him hiss in pain and attempt – in vain – to retract his limb from her.

Itachi looked at her begging eyes before turning to look at the male detective silently asking for his opinion. Shikamaru sighed, slackening his own hold on the man's arm."We already have a warrant, it did be stupid not to cover all our grounds," He offered honestly.

Sighing, the agent gave a curt nod to which the two detectives dragged the yet again protesting man into the car before they all left for the police station.

* * *

She heard a door open, rusty hinges grinding in her ears. "I see you're awake, Detective. Or is it Agent now, I forget." Came a deep and husky male voice. The man chuckled maliciously. "Isn't it ironic how you came all the way to Tokyo to catch me," Footsteps echoed through the room making it hard to tell if he was getting closer or on.

Then the man stood in front of her, tall and proud, arms crossed in front of his chest. "Yet you're the one who got caught." He laughed then, a booming and self-celebratory laugh. He didn't look much different from how she remembered him, at least the part that she did see all those years ago didn't. He was still wearing a black cloth mask over his face, he had long black hair with that looked gray from the less than rare specks of silver in it.

Hinata just glared at him, her suspicion was confirmed. This was the Bishop Killer and the father of her friend. She tried, in vain, to free herself of her own handcuffs. "Well," she began, deciding to play along in order to buy herself some time. "I cannot deny the irony of the situation."

The man smirked, seeing right through her façade. "You know, I didn't even plan on killing you and Yūhi," He said nonchalantly, going over to the table of tools and other sharp objects.

At the mention of her friend's name Hinata felt tears stinging her eyes, and boiling anger in her blood. She had no control over herself as her glare became icier by the millisecond before she snapped. "Did you plan on killing Fū, then!?" She shouted at him furious for his involvement in the death of the few people she held dear. "Did you plan on killing your own daughter!?" Her outburst seemed to catch his attention for he stopped what he was doing to give her a glance over his shoulder. "Answer me, you bastard!"

"How do you know about, Fū?" He asked, his voice curiously calm.

Hinata on the other hand was anything but calm, she was beyond angry, all the emotions bottled up from Kurenai's death finally reached her and she didn't have the energy nor the will to stop herself. "Your daughter! Your flesh and blood! How could you do that to her?" At this point she was breathing heavily from all the fury she was displaying. Her outburst made her heart race rapidly, which in turn must have reactivated the not so gone paralyzing sedative in her system, resulting in her head bowing forward from lack of strength in her neck to hold it up.

The man stayed silent but walked over to where she was strapped to a chair and crouched in front of her in order to look at her face under her bangs. "You're that girl that showed up at her funeral," He stated, his green bloodshot eyes narrowing at her.

It took more effort than Hinata cared to admit to glare at him. "And you… you're the bastard that killed my friend, your daughter! Someone you're supposed to protect with your life!"

"So what?"

At the simple and rhetorical question her anger subsided as she stared in stunned silence at the indifferent look on his face. She decided then that it was pointless to argue about the sanctity of life with a serial killer who had murdered over twenty innocent people. Kurenai's and Fū's lives probably didn't matter to him more than the others' did.

"You didn't want to kill her," She said after she had finally calmed down her heart rate.

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow at her curiously. "I _did_ want to kill Fū-"

"No," Hinata tried hiding or rather holding in the distaste and anger from hearing him utter her name. "I meant Kurenai,"

"Aa," The man sighed wistfully. "Indeed, I did not. But they told me that she was peeking around in our business and we couldn't have that y'know." He tilted his head, observing her, as if he found her interesting for some reason. "How would you know this?"

The bluette met the killer's gaze and although she really didn't need to share any kind of information she did however need to stall for as long as possible at least until Itachi got here . "I see things," She admitted honestly flexed her fingers behind her back every other second waiting for the anesthetic to wear off, he nodded for her to continue. "I have an empathy disorder that allows me to view a crime scenes, usually homicide, on a very... personal level" That was the simplest way she could put it into words.

"Interesting," He mused, standing up and dusting off his pants casually. "I'm sorry about your friend, it wasn't my choice to kill her,"

When she could finally make a first strong enough that the nails digging into her palm hurt like hell, Hinata let out a sarcastic laugh, as another attempt at staying alive as long as possible. "All these years, I thought of you as an intelligent criminal, I thought wrong. Turns out the Bishop is just a pawn."

Her bait had worked, his calm faded away completely. "What do you think you're talking about?" Kakuzu spat out.

She tried not to let her panic show, the man might get angry enough to kill her. "Isn't it obvious? " She scoffed, schooling her expression into one of mocking and belittling. "They're just using you, they knew you'd get caught that's why they made you kill Kurenai, nothing like cold hearted revenge to get the FBI off your radar." If her profile on him was anywhere near reality then about now he'd–

All of sudden his hand flew to her neck, with a grip grip that wasn't tight enough to suffocate, but enough to hurt. "You don't know what you're talking about." He enunciated through clenched teeth, his grip tightening slowly.

Hinata still somehow managed to smirk, all the adrenaline must have pushed away the fear and panic . "Don't I?"

The man let go, throwing her head back. He went to the table to her right, only to come back behind her with a knife to her throat.

 _'Finally'_

 _ **CRACK!**_

It all happened in a second. She had broken her left thumb and freed her hand from the cuff around three wrist. Before the older man could react she hit him with the back of her wrist in the face.

As he groaned in pain and stepped back she quickly freed her legs of the ropes binding them to the chair. Turning around she stood in a fighting position – right foot in front of the other, right hand in front of her, left one clutched to her chest, rendered useless.

Kakuzu let out a shout of frustration. Letting go of his eye he lunged at her with his knife. Hinata swiftly deflected and kneed him in the stomach.

Kakuzu doubled over, but didn't give her time to attack again as he charged at her faster while she was in close range. This time she didn't have the chance to avert completely as the knife stabbed her in the side. Hinata groaned and clutched the wound through the blade with her left hand. It did nothing to stop the bleeding and the burning pain.

Taking advantage of her vulnerability he came at her again. His left fist missing her face by barely an inch. In turn she she clouted him with the back of her hand in his chin making him lose his balance before her open palm hit him straight in the chest, successfully knocking the air out of his lungs.

He took a couple of steps back from loss of balance. Hinata took the chance perform a roundhouse kick, her ankle colliding with h the left side of his head, hitting his ear which in turn – from the looks of it – have him a concussion.

Panting Hinata looked down on the barely conscious man after he collapsed. The young agent looked around the room before her eyes fell on the table where the man had gotten his knife, there she saw a phone. In long strides, she limped over and picked it up, immediately calling a three digit number.

Ring~

"110 What's your emergency?"

She regretted not memorizing her fiance's japanese phone number but now wasn't the time to think about that. "My name is Hyuuga Hinata, I've been kidnapped I'd like to be connected with the Homicide department at the TMPD, preferably with Itachi Uchiha if available"

The person on the other end seemed confused for a moment but realized there's no reason to argue so they complied her request. While waiting the bluette winced and gripped her side tightly, the adrenaline was wearing off like painkillers, making way for the the agonizing sensation.

"Hinata, is that you? Are you alright?" Finally came the worried voice of her partner.

She looked down at her left side which was bleeding profusely. "Fine, but I don't know where I am. Track this call, and get an ambulance." Her half lidded eyes drifted over to the man on the floor, "I got our guy" 'Not before he got me.' she added to herself not feeling up to sharing painful details to her already worried fiancé. Hinata listened to him give out orders on what she just told him, glad that she survived long enough to hear his voice.

Hinata stepped on the black haired man's wrist when she saw his grip tighten on the knife, in result making him groan.

"Even if you are right." he began, clearly accepting his defeat. "If they used me they'll use someone else. After all their business isn't finished with you lot."

The bluette narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you talking about? We don't have anything to do with them. You're the one I'm supposed to have a disagreement with. I almost caught you five years ago, remember that?"

He let out a dry laugh, accompanied by a bloody cough. "It's not you they want. And it wasn't her either. It's your..."

Hinata fell on her knees, unable to do kneel down gracefully, and grabbed him by the collar with her good hand. "My who?" she continued questioning and shaking the already unconscious man.

" Argh!" the Hyuga groaned in pain. Clutching her side even tighter. That didn't numb the pain nor did it get rid of her dizziness and lightheadedness.

Hinata heard Itachi's voice call out to her from the phone fell on the ground moments ago, she brought it up her ear, "I love you, nikkō," She told him quietly before her shaking fingers ended the call. If she was going to bleed to death she'd at least want Itachi to know that she did love him.

She tried looking for something that might help her stop the bleeding, bandages, a rag that didn't look like she might worsen her situation if she put it where near an open wound, _anything_. However, all the aimless walking made her lose even more blood and soon the dimly lit cabin was enveloped in darkness as her unconscious body hit the wooden floor.

* * *

Sasuke drove fast enough that he was sure he was due a car accident about two minutes ago. After he had found out that Itachi's plan flopped, he didn't wait for them to come back to the station before leaving to test out his own theory.

He had noticed something peculiar in the forensic report, then with the help of Shino he found out that dirt that was on the dead woman's shoe was from a generally uninhibited area on the side of Tokyo. And the address that came with their only suspect was not anywhere near that area.

There weren't a lot of houses that were placed on this particular kind of soil, and they were all placed pretty far from each other something he found out from Shino before he drove of to the one that fit the most in his mind, since It was the closest one to the crime scene from two weeks ago.

As he got closer to the neighborhood he made a swift job out of turning off the the sirens so as to not warn the potential culprit of his presence. Finally getting to needed house he didn't care for parking the car properly, not only because he knew the area was too empty for someone to following about it, but also because his soon-to-be sister-in-law was in too much danger for him to be wasting time on something like positioning his car the right way. _'Sister-in-law, huh? When did I start calling her that..?'_

Sasuke ran over to the front door, it was locked but he barely have a damn when he broke the glass frame closest to the door handle in order to open it from the inside. When that was done he looked around the house with left hand on his fire-arm ready to shoot if needed. Clearing the first floor he noticed a door open ajar that led to a downwards staircase. No sound was coming from the basement and he just hoped he wasn't too late.

When he was at the last couple of steps of the stairs, he immediately noticed a mass of dark blue hair sprawled on the wooden floor. Without thinking he sped towards her completely ignoring the other dead or unconscious body on the ground as he noticed all the blood that came from her waist. There must have been at least a liter she half there. Not good.

Falling on the floor beside her the Uchiha pressed his fingers down under her jaw only to feel it was well decreased. He saw the phone near her hand it showed that there was a call to 110. ' _At least I don't have to waste time on that,'_ he thought to himself rolling his sleeves up he placed the heel of his palm in the the middle of her chest then the other palm on top and started pushing down in a quick rhythm of over one hundred beats per minute.

In that moment looking down on the dirtied pale woman the life whose he was trying desperately m to save, his brother's smiling face appeared in his mind. The smile he made when he was with _her,_ Sasuke realized had never seen him so happy, not since their parents died. But Itachi was happy, with her. She made him happy.

"You better live, dammit!" He shouted at her, because he'd be damned if he'd let his smile die once again.


	10. Chapter 10: Moonlight

**Chapter 10: Moonlight**

ALL THE SPEED WRITING I'VE BEEN DOING FOR THE PAST 12 HOURS HAS SUCKED THE SOUL OUT OF ME, AND I ONLY USED A PROOFREADER, SO THERE MIGHT BE MORE MISTAKES THEN USUAL, I'M SORRY IN ADVANCE!

* * *

The constant beeping at seventy times per minute – she had counted – was most likely the thing that woke her up, although her own breath was very loud due to the oxygen mask on her face, and the light pressure on her right side didn't do anything but contribute to her awakening.

She couldn't move, is one of the next things she noticed, she could barely see where the weight on her arm came from because the mask sabotaged her lower vision. But if the black mass of – most probably – hair, was anything to go by...

' _Itachi..'_

Her eyes felt wet and she felt the unpleasant stinging sensation in her nose, she blinked in order to chase away the tears but that only made them slide down to her cheeks. She wanted to talk to him, to apologise, he probably blamed himself for her current state, but no one was at fault except her answer-driven mind. Every time there was a question she just had to-

Her ears faintly registered her steadily quickening heartbeat which gave her an idea. With all her willpower she tried to move the fingers on her left hand before her thumb finally responded and pushed the oximeter off of her index finger successfully making the machine think she was flatlining and in turn warning anyone in earshot and beyond of the fact.

The man that was sitting in the chair next to her hospital bed abruptly stood up, and she could finally see his face, but the terrified expression on it did not suit him at all. His eyes looked past her to the monitor as if they were avoiding him as if he couldn't even bear to look at her. She was right, he felt guilty.

Only five seconds at most must have passed since she barely pulled off the oximeter, although it felt like hours as she started at the foreign expression on his face. He opened his mouth, to call a doctor she guessed, but her hand has finally decided to cooperate and moved to place itself on his which was gripping the bedside in a white-knuckled grip.

His black eyes still wide fell on her finally, his expression of horror turned into a mix of relief and concern. She tried to smile but didn't know if she'd succeeded, and if she did, could he even see it behind the foggy mask.

After a short moment, he finally sat back down, leaning with his elbows on her bed with her hand still between his larger and warmer ones. He pressed her paler than usual knuckles to his lips, his black eyes never leaving her white ones. She tried sending another signal to her hand, thankfully it complied and she watched as it slowly dragged itself across his slightly stubbled jaw and over to his cheek. Itachi took a sharp breath as though to calm himself and placed his palm over hers.

She wanted to stay with him longer, to just stare into his eyes a little bit longer, but even though she hadn't moved it, her body was tired and it wanted rest. Her eyelids felt too heavy to hold on her own and she tried to hold them up, just to see him for a little more, but she lifted them only once and then the second time before her wet lashes fell again and her mind slipped away into unconsciousness.

* * *

Next time she had woken up she didn't not much has changed, she still had the oxygen mask although it was much easier to breathe this time. She realized Itachi was nowhere near her bed nor was he in the room, although she did see someone else standing near the window. A man with short spiky black hair. _Itachi's brother?'_

Thankfully her body was more cooperative for she was able to move her arm in order to remove the breathing aid from her face. Once she was done with that she tried calling out to the Uchiha. "Hey," at that he snapped out of his daze and turned to look at her, making her wonder if the fast way he did it gave him whiplash or neck pain. Her voice sounded unusually raspy and dry to her own ears but was why she called out to him in the first place. "Water,"

Sasuke gave a curt nod at her request and went to fetch a cup of water from the cooler. After handing it to her instead of returning to the window he sat down on a chair next to her.

With her throat no longer painfully dry Hinata allowed herself to laugh at him, at which he raised a questioning eyebrow. "I see it takes a near death experience for you to be nice to someone."

Sasuke gave her a surprised look before a smirk made its way onto his face. "Isn't it a bit early to joke about almost dying?" He asked with a hint of humor in his voice.

"My perception of time must be off then, must be the coma and all that," Came her no less amused reply. They sat in comfortable silence after the unusually pleasant exchange for a while until Hinata remembered the absence of her partner. "Where's my fiance?" She asked and resisted the urge to laugh when the man beside her visibly cringed at her choice of words.

He gave her an icy stare. "Do you do that on purpose?!" At her vague shrug, he huffed and crossed his arms. "He's-" Sasuke's words were cut off when the door opened to reveal the subject of their conversation. "- right here…"

As soon as Itachi's gaze fell on her _conscious_ form his eyes widened before he swiftly went to stand by her bedside, immediately taking her hand in his, to make sure she was actually okay. "Hinata," Her name came out as a sigh as if he'd been holding his breath

The bluette smiled up at him intertwining her fingers with his making a weak and worried twitch of a smile play on his lips. Itachi's other hand went to her face brushing the bangs out of her eyes before cupping her cheek gently. "Please don't do that again,"

She looked up at him with anxious eyes remembering what the Bishop had said. "I'm not sorry, though I don't regret it" At her statement the fingers on her face almost dropped but she quickly put her hand over his to hold it up.

Itachi frowned, taken aback by her words. "What do you mean 'you don't regret it'?" He demanded, voice not as quiet as before but nowhere near shouting yet since it was hard to get him to do that. "You could have died!"

Hinata averted her white eyes from his, even if she didn't regret it, she didn't feel comfortable with her fiance being worried for her sake, so she explained. "I mean I'm glad I went there on my own. And while I only could have died you definitely would," What she said wiped the ghost of anger from his face replacing it with confusion, and caught the other Uchiha's attention.

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

She spared a side glance into Sasuke's direction before looking up at Itachi once again. "He wasn't going after me, or after Kurenai. He was ordered to do so because somehow they knew that you would appear in the picture. I didn't get much out of him but we can question him after I get out of here." At her words, Itachi's now questioning eyes strangely went to his younger brother as if trying to get an answer for something."

"Hey, don't look at me, I didn't touch the guy," He opposed defensively.

Hinata placed hers and Itachi's hand in her lap and started from one brother to the other while they had a silent debate without her. Then Itachi finally sighed. "Hinata… he's dead." He told her hesitantly.

Her eyes widened in shock. "No.." She trailed off. But how? She had never…

Sasuke spoke up seeing her worried expression. "It was self-defense, so you've got nothing to worry about."

Hinata shook her head and started "Itachi, I didn't mean to, I only wanted to knock him out. I…" Once again the two shared a confused look with each other, it was obvious by this point that they knew something she did not.

"Last time I checked when you put a bullet in someone's head that hardly ever only knocks them out," Sasuke said sarcastically though his voice didn't sound accusatory.

Dark blue brows knitted together in a perplexed frown on her forehead. "Itachi, you know I would never - Argh!" She moaned in pain and clutched her left side when she tried sitting up straight. "I would never kill somebody, you know that" She managed to hiss out through the pain, white eyes begging worried onyx ones to believe her. She had _never_ intentionally or not, killed anyone even a criminal, she had the opportunity, the means, the law on her side, and her own desire to do so many, _many_ times. But she'd never do it because she wanted to help people not end their lives, no matter how undeserving of living she found them to be.

"I know you wouldn't, gekkō" He assured her, finally sitting down in a chair and bringing her hand to his lips once again.

Sasuke, on the other hand, didn't become less confused. "I don't get it, the guy is obviously dead, so-"

"-so that means somebody else killed him!" She snapped at him not before turning her head to meet his eyes. "Because I wouldn't."

The confidence and the finality of her words told him not to argue but things were still unclear. "But there was no one else in the house!"

Hinata only glared at him. " First of all there was, I heard someone upstairs. And second of all, I passed out from blood loss, before I did, my fingers wouldn't even be able to hold up a gun properly much less pull a trigger." She told him sounding sure if herself but inside she was afraid that somehow – no matter how unlikely – she had shot the man and forgotten about it. "I would never kill another human being." Those words sounded more like self-reassurance than a point of argument.

Itachi's warm hands enveloping hers made her figure back onto him, her eyes pleading for him to confirm it to her that she would never take a person's life, even someone like the Bishop. "Can you leave is alone, Sgt Uchiha?" She some without taking her eyes off of her partner.

"I don't want to. Your brat of a sister is there, and she's annoying. Plus, I didn't know A.D.A. Hyūga was your cousin."

At his words, Hinata looked down in shock at Itachi but he only gave her an apologetic look and muttered a low "Sorry,"

"Ugh!" She groaned and threw her head back. "Why?!"

Itachi gave her another regretful smile. "You needed a partial liver transplant but you rejected the first one so we couldn't get another doner, but your sister was a match and she agreed."

Hinata grumbled in annoyance, she really didn't want to see her family, especially her father whom she cut ties with after she enrolled into the police academy in Washington. She had started a new life after Fū's death, not wanting to be kept in debt to her father she had started working, and stopped relying on his allowance. Hanabi and Neji, she wasn't necessarily close to either other, they didn't do anything wrong per se, but they still reminded Hinata of her lonely family life and miserable relationship with her father. So she kept contact to a minimum, not as much as her sister did though.

Itachi's ever comforting grip on her hand told her that she wasn't alone and miserable anymore, he had become better family to her in the last four years than her actual family had in her fifteen years of living with them. She let out a long sigh. "Invite them in, I suppose,"

The older Uchiha was ready to get up but the other beat him to it waving his hand dismissively with a low "You're okay," before leaving the room to gather her scattered family members, because she guessed even now, for her sake, they couldn't bear each other's presence for more than ten minutes.

"I'm here," His reassuring words and warm breath against her cold hand warw comforting and she was more than grateful to have him by her side in difficult times. He stood up then and started leaning towards her up until his lips were pressed against her forehead. "I'll always be here,"

 _'Will you?'_ Hinata couldn't help but think, worried about his life more than she was worried for her own in that basement whatever amount of days ago. "They wanted to kill you, not me, and Kurenai was just bait,"She finally told him, her voice trembling slightly.

"What?" She heard him ask, sounding confused, before he leaned back and she could see a matching facial expression as his eyes searched hers.

"The drug cartel – though at this point I doubt that's the only thing they occupy themselves with – they want you dead, I don't know why." She watched his face for a reaction, it looked as if realization dawned down on him after a moment of silence. "What? Do _you_ know something?"

He opened his mouth to speak but the door to their room opened with two figures entering. He quietly whispered "We'll talk later," with a squeeze of her hand and another peck on her forehead before sitting back down.

Hinata's gaze drifted over to the other two pairs of white eyes, they didn't say anything, just stared at her. Hanabi's eyes went to her hand that was still in Itachi's, both their grips tightened at her unapproving gaze. "You wouldn't tell us before, but who are you and what's your relationship with my sister?"

The older Hyūga resisted the urge to scoff at her sister's sudden overprotectiveness. She hadn't even tried to stop their father from sending her off to the states, hadn't called to see how she was doing from the moment Hinata cut ties with him. And _now_ she was playing the worried sister. Hinata hated the fact that Hanabi helped her, it meant that she'd owe her something and that was the last thing she wanted.

She looked over at her cousin who was also looking between the couple of agents. They hadn't talked much either, maybe once in a couple of months. They still had normal conversations even with Hinata refusing to disclose personal information about herself, which apparently had been a good thing considering how she along with Kurenai were used as means of baiting her fiance. Who knows how much sooner it would have happened if she hadn't been so anal about not trusting anyone.

Hinata sighed, at least get father wasn't here, she'd like to save that conversation for another time, maybe when she wasn't risking ripping stitches. "He's my fiance," She told them indifferently, after all she didn't need their autism. Neji reacted calmly, as he always did, with a look of curious surprise on his face. Hanabi, on the other hand, looked downright furious about the fact, but she didn't say anything about it as she stormed off without a word.

Neji cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, looking rather apologetic for the youngest Hyūga's actions. After another moment of awkward silence, he came up to Itachi and extended his hand to him. "Neji Hyūga, Ms. Hinata's cousin."

Itachi shared a surprised look with his fiance before standing up and reciprocating the handshake with a smile. "Itachi Uchiha, I'm… well, you know," He let out a light uncomfortable chuckle.

He again gave them an apologetic look."I'm sorry about my cousin, she was very upset about you not informing us about your involvement with Ms. Hinata,"

Hinata groaned in annoyance. "Neji, can you please drop that, we're adults now and you're not obligated to be so formal anymore." She told him, irritated by his use of such stiff language. "I haven't been a Hyūga for almost a decade, please let it go."

Her cousin looked taken aback for a moment before he nodded in understanding. Hinata gestured him to sit down - on the chair that was previously occupied by Itachi's brother - by her bed.

It was rather graceless and inexpert at first but they managed to have a pleasant conversation despite seeing each other for the first time in twelve years.

* * *

A couple of days had passed since then, she and Itachi were returning from Kurenai's funeral, both with grave expressions on their faces. For the last couple of weeks, it had been easier to cope with the distraction of the Bishop Killer in mind. But when they watched her being buried the reality set it, a dear friend was dead. And even with the person guilty dead, it hurt.

Hinata wiped her tears for the nth time that day, watching Itachi pull the keys out of his pocket and open the door to their apartment. After he'd done that he walked over behind Hinata and pushed her wheelchair, the doctor found it necessary that she move as little as possible, hence the wheels.

"I'm tired," She said quietly, he hummed lazily I'm agreement. Itachi crouched down enough for him to pick her up out the wheelchair before he carried her to their bedroom. When both feel onto the bed Hinata curled up into her man and he wrapped his hands around her. They sat in comfortable silence until the Hyūga chose to look for a distraction, something to take her mind off things. "You still haven't told me about why that stuff cartel wants you dead," She leaned back so she could see his face as she told him this.

"Yeah," He sighed and shifted slightly so he laid on his back, while Hinata still lay on her side, with his arm under her head. "There's not much to it. I worked in VICE and I was assigned to go undercover and infiltrate one small drug smuggling organization. I did, i was undercover for about four, maybe five months before we finally apprehended them and a couple of other groups. They called themselves Akatsuki.

"I never made it to the hearing, because after that case I went to work for the FBI so I didn't know if we're actually sent to prison, apparently not." Itachi recited her one of the few stories she hadn't actually known about, and she didn't blame him for not telling her since even in her mind it'd be considered a closed case and a trivial one at that. "Speaking of which," He retracted his arm from under her to reach for something on his bed.

Hinata gave him a look when he showed a case file. "What did I say about bringing work into the bedroom?"

"Sorry, I just put it here so I wouldn't forget," He told her, handing her the file.

Holding it she read that it was the Bishop Killer report for the FBI. "Do I have to get hurt more often for you to actually write our reports?"

Itachi smiled bashfully. "Sorry,"

She gave him a side glance before muttering "it's fine,". She read through the report and it all had been pretty accurate up to the point where she left to deal with the Bishop Killer. "Nikkō,"

"Hmm?" Came his sleepy confirmation that he was still awake, albeit barely.

"This isn't the right address," she flipped the page looking for the place where Sasuke find her, finding the address she pointed it out to him. "This is the place I left to when I went to find Shimizu"

Itachi picked up his torso slightly and leaned on his elbows, in order to look at her frowning. "That doesn't make any sense." He said, looking over her shoulder at the papers she was holding. "That's definitely the place me and the detectives went to, the guy was the only Kakuzu Shimizu that we found in the database." He picked himself off the bed and started unbuttoning his shirt. "I'd usually say that it's the dispatcher mistake but that's too uncanny of a coincidence.."

Hinata stared at the paper chewing on her thumb – the one that wasn't still in a cast courtesy of her small sacrifice. She agreed with Itachi, this was a very unlikely coincidence. Then a strange thought occurred to her "Maybe there's a leak in the department?"

* * *

 **A/n:** _screaming inside a building on fire_ is hella mood right now, I literally finished this in record time it had about 1,7k words(unfinished) yesterday before I had to delete 1k completely and now you have this, I really impressed myself with this one over 2,5k words in twelve hours? You do me proud, Irene (that's my name, hi)

So yeah last chapter huh… oh sorry what I meant was, _that this is the last chapter of_ _ **THE FIRST ARC!**_ Pa-pa-pa-pranked! Ha! Got eem! I got y'all good with this one lmao. Yeah this is the last chapter of "the Bishop Killer Arc". I hope y'all enjoyed it thoroughly. Thank you for the reviews, much appreciated!

Additionally I'd like to say that I'll be taking a break bc I need to figure out the outline of the second Arc. For this Arc I had things sorta planned out but not really, like I had written the Kakuzu Vs Hinata fight months ago and everything I wrote was with that in mind and it worked out somehow. But I don't have much on the second Arc so I'll need some time. Maybe I'll get my good phone back during this time (it's been 7 weeks and the new display the repair dude ordered still hasn't arrived) and it will be easier once I have it.

Also my birthday is on the 18th of December (it'd hardly be a break if I updated until then, so I'm telling you now) so if you're in the mood to make feel good, you could wish me a happy birthday then on my Tumblr g-hostwriter.

See y'all soon and don't forget to _**REVIEW**_! Bye


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